Something Quite Peculiar
by somethingquitepeculiar
Summary: As the moon cannot shine without the sun, the Guardians cannot thrive without the Muses. When the Muses are threatened by a dark entity hoping to harness their power, they must call upon the Guardians and their centuries-old alliance. Together they must learn more about this threat, and what can be done to stop it and keep the Guardians and Muses strong and alive. Eventual JackxOC
1. Reminiscing

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or the Guardians of Childhood series or the associated trademark characters and storylines. I do not own, nor am I associated with DreamWorks Animation or William Joyce.

* * *

_Full Summary: The Muses are more than mythology._

_It is stories, legends, fairy tales and books that keep children believing in the Guardians, keeps their spirits alive in their hearts. But all books start with a blank page. All stories start with a spark, a hunch, an idea._

_Inspiration._

_With the ability to inspire at will, to manipulate thoughts and dreams of great and impossible things, the nine Muses are exceptionally important and exceptionally powerful. And this power does not go unnoticed._

_When the Muses are threatened by a dark entity hoping to harness their power, they must call upon the Guardians and their centuries-old alliance. Together they must learn more about this threat, and what can be done to stop it and keep the Guardians and Muses strong and alive._

_Meanwhile, Jack Frost, a Guardian of a few short months, is still up to his old tricks while trying to adjust to new responsibilities. Along the way he finds a new friend who could use some fun among the chaos that is about to erupt in her life. A life that was so meticulously planned out is turned upside down as fantasy becomes reality and imagination is no longer a safe place to escape to._

* * *

_"How was the drive?"_

_"Terrible! Snow everywhere, you'd think someone was doing it on purpose."_

* * *

**Chapter One: Reminiscing**

* * *

The cabin could barely be called a cabin. It was more of a hut: a building in the loosest sense of the word. It had four walls and a roof, a door, a window, and a chimney that looked as though it were ready to fall over. Truthfully, it appeared that a strong gust of wind could knock down the shack, with signs surrounding which read, "Condemned" and "No Trespassing."

The small structure was concealed behind several large trees, and was incredibly easy to miss, nestled within the forest that rarely anyone ventured into.

It was always snowing around this cabin, regardless of the season.

Inside was exceedingly less interesting than outside, if at all possible. There was only one room, which contained a mattress and pillow in the corner, a fireplace that appeared to have not been used in decades, and a few shelves on one of the walls.

The shelves proved to be at least _somewhat_ intriguing, containing items such as a matryoshka doll, a handful of what appeared to be grenades disguised as Easter eggs, a tiny but elaborately designed box containing a single wisdom tooth, and a small, golden, velvet bag. Various crayon drawings were pinned up near the shelves with care, all depicting children partaking in various winter games.

A boy with pasty skin and white hair climbed inside through the window, already open. With a yawn, he propped the staff in his hand against the wall and stretched before lying back on the mattress, eyes fixed to the still-open window. He briefly wondered if he should close it.

"Why? So I won't catch my death?" he said to himself with a small laugh as a cold gust of air entered the cabin, shuffling he drawings on the wall just slightly.

Jack Frost was still getting used to this whole "house" thing.

He didn't want one, he had done fairly well for himself just lurking around for the past three hundred years. The closest thing he had to a home was the lake at Burgess, which was only a short walk – or fly, depending on his mood- away from the cabin.

He saw no reason to have one; it was the others that insisted. Jack glanced at the knick-knacks on his shelves as he thought of the others. North had given him the matryoshka doll made in Jack's image to welcome him as a Guardian, and so that the boy may never forget his "center."

The egg grenades? Well, don't tell Bunnymund about those, Jack might have stolen them when he wasn't looking. They were finally kind-of, sort-of on friendly terms and it probably wasn't a great idea to let the rabbit know that Jack had stolen his egg bombs simply because they were cool.

The small, but very intricately decorated box was from Toothiana. Jack had returned his baby teeth to her after retrieving his memories from his old life, feeling that she would take better care of them than he would. She soon returned the one wisdom tooth (the only one Jack had, as the other three hadn't grown in by the time he had his accident; he now remembered it being knocked out while roughhousing with some other boys) in the box, and told him to save it, in case he needed the wisdom later.

Truthfully, he wasn't sure he would use the tooth any time soon, not unless he had to engage in a battle of wits with someone who wasn't Bunnymund. Still, the gesture was nice, and Jack kept the tooth with his other possessions.

The velvet bag was full of dream sand, and was given to him by Sandy. Jack couldn't entirely make out what he had been trying to say with the rapid, sandy silhouettes appearing over his head, but what he gathered was that there was very little in the bag, and that he was to use it wisely. After the entire fiasco with Pitch Black a few months back, Sandy seemed to think it was necessary that each of the other guardians had a small stash of dream sand in case of emergencies.

It was difficult to go through what had happened with Pitch and not come out of it closer, and that's precisely what had happened with Jack and the other Guardians. They were something of an odd family now, and Jack was still getting used to that, much like the house.

Ugh, the house. He liked having a place to keep his things, and he was starting to like the mattress (no bed, boogeymen hid under beds), but he was still getting used to having a legitimate place to stay. The others thought it was necessary that he had a home base. Tooth had her palace, North had his workshop, Bunny had his Warren, and Sandy had his island. What did Jack have?

Well, now he had this cabin, which was regarded as "a start" by the others, and was then met with a roll of the eyes from Jack.

He had no dreams or toys to create, no eggs to paint, no teeth and currency to store, he saw no reason for an elaborate home base. Especially considering the destruction that came to the other bases when Pitch was gaining power. If a villain of some kind laid claim to Jack's house, they'd be laying claim to a doll, some small explosives, a tooth, some sand, and some drawings.

He somehow doubted that would be much use to anyone plotting world domination or something similar.

Though, he'd be very disappointed to lose those things, particularly the drawings.

The drawings were from various children, a thought that still made Jack grin. They could see him! They believed in him! And not only that, but they loved him, enough to draw him pictures of the fun they had in the snow he brought. A good handful of the drawings were from Jamie Bennett, his first believer.

He hadn't seen Jamie since the events that had taken place around Easter, as Spring had finally hit Burgess after that. The drawings from Jamie had all been left near the edge of the lake where Jamie hoped Jack would find them. A few had even been sent in the mail to North, along with drawings for the other guardians, with notes asking that they be given to the proper recipients.

Jack had received all of them, and had carefully pinned each of them to the wall. He loved those drawings. Having confirmation that Jamie hadn't forgotten him was nice, too. Just how long it had been since he had seen the child began to dawn on Jack and he sat up, reaching for his staff.

He would just have to fix that, wouldn't he?

"Hey wind!" Jack called, climbing out of his cabin, using the window once more. Doors were for pedestrians. "Let's go visit Jamie!"

The wind picked up in response and caught Jack as he leapt forward, letting out a laugh. The strong gusts whipped about his hair and the soft fabric of his jacket. Three hundred years and flying hadn't lost its excitement in the least.

Still cackling, Jack artfully waved his staff as he passed the lake, thickening the ice and frosting nearby trees. Several other trees, windows, sidewalks, and unsuspecting pedestrians fell victim to Jack's games as he passed, bringing frost and cold gusts of wind as he went.

A few children pointed, eyes wide. He heard a few exclamations of, _"Mommy, it's Jack Frost!"_ always followed by a, _"That's nice, honey."_ He grinned at the kids in question and waved, acknowledging that he was who they thought he was.

Seven months and being believed in hadn't lost its excitement in the least.

Jack quickly approached the Bennett residence and began to wonder if Jamie would even be home. Hovering near the boy's window, he found that he was. Jamie was lying on his stomach on the floor, propped up on his elbows, with his copy of _Mysterious Times_ open in front of him. He must be reading it for what was probably the thirteenth time.

Quietly opening the window, Jack entered the room and waved his hand about, sending several very large snowflakes straight into Jamie's face. The dark-haired boy was confused for a moment, sitting up and looking around briefly before his face broke out into a grin. He'd lost two other teeth since Jack had seen him last, and the tooth that he had a hand in knocking had been replaced by a pearly white adult tooth.

"Jack!" Jamie cheered before scrambling to his feet and rushing forward to hug the eternally young man.

"Jamie!" Jack laughed, hugging the child back.

"Did you get my drawings?" Jamie asked hopefully.

"Yep, I have all of them back at, uh… well, I have a home base now. They're all up on the wall there," Jack said.

"Awesome! I haven't seen you since Easter, I thought you weren't gonna come back," Jamie said, letting go of Jack at last, practically bouncing on his heels in excitement.

"I had to bring winter to some other places," Jack explained. "And I promised Bunny I'd let you guys have spring finally after the whole thing with Pitch. But it's November now, so I'll be around."

"Cool! I can't wait to go sledding, I have some plans drawn up, you gotta see them!" Jamie said, rushing over to a stack of drawings near a pile of colored pencils. Nice, quality colored pencils, too. He pulled out a drawing of what appeared to be an intricate iced path for sledding purposes and handed it to Jack, who let out a whistle at the sight of it.

"This is intense," he said, examining the drawing as he sat atop Jamie's dresser, his staff resting in his lap. There were several jumps, sharp turns and dips. And Jack thought the sledding route _he_ had created for Jamie had been elaborate.

"Think you could do it?" Jamie asked.

Jack smirked, "It might take a little while, and I might have to steal some of North's elves to test drive it so I don't knock any _more_ teeth out... but I think I can manage."

"Awesome! Wait until I tell the guys, this is gonna be great."

The pair was interrupted by a car honking outside as it pulled into the driveway. Jamie walked over to the window to see who had arrived and Jack hovered away from the dresser to do the same.

A green jeep with a few dents in the bumper sat running in the driveway before the driver killed the engine and opened the door, sliding out. It was a thin girl that appeared to be in her late teens, perhaps early twenties. Jack raised a brow, wondering who she was, as the girl adjusted her knit hat. Her hair was a peculiar shade of burgundy (it couldn't be natural), and her eyes were large and brown.

"Rowan's here!" Jamie grinned.

"Who's Rowan?" Jack asked.

"My cousin, she's staying with us for Thanksgiving," Jamie explained.

Thanksgiving. Right, that was coming up. Jack often forgot about that holiday, since it didn't have a personification running around to remind him. He briefly wondered what the personification of Thanksgiving would be, a giant turkey? There technically weren't even turkeys at the first Thanksgiving. Maybe a pilgrim?

Jack himself had never celebrated the holiday but had eavesdropped on the event numerous times in the past few centuries. Big feasts, parades, going around the table and being put on the spot about what you were thankful for.

And of course, extended family.

"Rowan!" came the voice of Jamie's mother from the front yard, as she approached the girl and pulled her into her arms.

"Hey, Aunt Lorelei, how are things?" Rowan asked. Her voice was on the deeper side for a girl.

"They're fine, but I expected you two hours ago, how was the drive?"

"Terrible! Snow everywhere, you'd think someone was doing it on purpose," Rowan groaned at the memory. Jamie turned his attention to Jack, giving him a questioning look. Jack smiled sheepishly, recalling how he had spent the earlier part of his day on one of the highways.

"Oops?" the white-haired boy offered with an innocent smile.

"At least you got here in one piece," Lorelei fussed, releasing her niece from her grasp before the two made their way to the house. Jamie turned from the window and began rushing for the door, but stopped short. He looked back at Jack, then to his bedroom door a few times, conflict clear on his face.

"Go see your cousin," Jack laughed. "I'll be around all winter."

Jamie rushed over and hugged Jack one last time before heading back to his door again. "See you later, Jack!"

"I'm taking your drawing, okay?" Jack said.

"That's fine!" Jamie replied as he turned the knob and rushed through. Jack smiled, glad to see that Jamie was still full of wonder, hopes, dreams, and all those other marvelous things that were so precious and worth the guardians protecting.

Standing at Jamie's windowsill, Jack carefully rolled up the drawing and placed it in the pocket of his jacket. He was about to fly off and find a place he could construct the sledding course when he heard the Bennett's greyhound barking.

Curiosity got the better of Jack and he couldn't help making a detour by the Bennett's living room window to peek inside. He found Rowan kneeling on the floor as Abby, the greyhound in question, jumped on her and licked her face. Rowan fussed over the dog in return. "Abby, Abby, Abby! Who's a good doggy? You're a good doggy, aren't you Abby?"

"Not if you ask Bunnymund," Jack muttered with a small chuckle.

"Rowan!" Jamie called as he reached the bottom of the staircase and sprinted toward his cousin. He nearly knocked the girl over when approaching her for a hug. The girl groaned slightly at impact but quickly recovered.

"Hi Jamie! How have you been?" Abby began to whine as Rowan's attention was taken away. The girl turned to the dog and rolled her eyes. "Oh, calm down, Abby, I stopped petting you for two seconds!"

"I've been good, what about you?" Jamie asked as Abby rolled over on the floor, presenting her belly to be rubbed by Rowan, who obliged.

"I've been doing lots and _lots_ of homework. Finals next week," Rowan said with a small sigh. "So I've mostly been tired."

"Sophie, say hello to Rowan," Lorelei said to the little blond girl, currently preoccupied by puppets on the television screen. She slowly turned her head from the screen to Rowan, seemed to recognize her, and jumped to her feet.

"Rowan, Rowan!" Sophie called, crashing into the girl.

"Why is everyone trying to knock me over today? First the weather, now you guys," Rowan said, hugging the little girl in return. Jack winced slightly.

"Okay so maybe icing the middle lane suddenly was out of line," he mumbled, glancing from the window to Rowan's car and trying to place it among the vehicles he'd harassed earlier.

"I heard you cut your own hair again, Sophie," Rowan said as the child released her from grasp.

"It's pretty!" Sophie declared, shaking her choppy blonde hair about.

"Oh it's quite nice. I cut my own hair too, it's more economical that way," Rowan said with a small smile. Lorelei shook her head, laughing a bit.

"I'm going to take her to fix it next week, the hairdresser took the week off," the woman said, adjusting her glasses as she spoke.

"I can do it, it's just a matter of evening some things out," Rowan said, pushing Sophie's bangs out of her face.

"Well you certainly can't make it worse," her aunt said. "Maybe tomorrow, after you're settled."

"Sounds good to me, I just want to take a nap right now," Rowan confessed. "I seriously almost got into like, three wrecks on the way over here, most stressful drive to date… but don't tell my mom that."

"She'd never let you leave ever again," Lorelei said, wincing. Jack wasn't sure if she was wincing at the thought of Rowan's mother or the thought of Rowan almost wrecking three times.

He'd like to point out that she had _almost_ wrecked. Despite the state of her car's bumper, she had not actually succeeded in plowing into someone or getting plowed into today. And now that he'd placed the car in his memory? It was really more like _six_ times, and at least four of those had not been _his_ fault.

She hadn't been a great driver.

"How is my sister, anyway?" Lorelei asked.

"Oh, the usual. I wish Dad would've gotten more time off so they could've made the trip down," Rowan said, back to scratching behind Abby's ear.

"I do too, but it's not really worth the drive if he only has Thursday off."

"Nah. But hey, at least I have you guys."

"Rowan!" Jamie said, clearly bored by this grown-up talk.

"Jamie!" Rowan responded with the same enthusiasm.

"Come look at my drawings, I have loads of new ones since you were here last time, and I've been using those pencils you got me, and-"

"Okay, okay, take a second to breathe, kid," Rowan laughed before pulling herself to her feet. "Let's go see your drawings, then."

As Jamie lead Rowan up the stairs, Jack turned from the window and hovered over to Rowan's car lightly tapping the windshield with his staff and frosting it over before the wind picked up. After being satisfied that what he'd done would serve as a significant inconvenience and therefore a fair prank for the girl, Jack flew off back toward the woods near the lake.

He had some construction to do.


	2. Early Drafts

_When he heard jingle bells and a familiar laugh, he knew he was in the right place._

* * *

**Chapter Two: Early Drafts**

* * *

It was getting late into the night when Rowan found herself at the Bennett's kitchen table, her laptop open in front of her as she typed away madly, the word processor barely keeping up with her pace. She was alone, everything was entirely silent, save for the clicking of the keys and the occasional crunching as she reached into the nearby bowl of popcorn and shoved a handful into her mouth, always wiping the excess grease off on her pajama pants before going straight back to typing.

"Still up, Rowan?"

The girl jumped in surprise and coughed on a kernel as the voice of her aunt broke the silence. Removing her hands from the keyboard, she covered her mouth as she continued coughing. The older woman pat Rowan on the back and soon enough she returned to normal breathing.

"I didn't mean to scare you!" Lorelei said, pushing choppy bangs out of her niece's face.

"Next time produce some noise while you're walking, holy shit, Aunt," Rowan said, reaching for her glass of water and slowly taking a drink.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," the woman laughed slightly. "I thought you would've been asleep by now, you were saying you were so tired."

"I _am_ tired," Rowan said with a sigh, "But I had an idea for a story, so I had to get it down while I remembered it. And then I had an, apparently deadly, craving for popcorn and helped myself to the box you had."

"Another story idea? Have you ever finished any of these stories?"

"Yes... just not _most_ of them," Rowan confessed, scrolling through folders upon folders filled with files upon files of stories, notes and ideas. "I just have more ideas than I have time."

"What's this one about?"

"It's a concept for a series of children's books about a vampire family and how they try to partake in everyday activities with their own little twists, ultimately embracing their unique way of life and making friends along the way," Rowan said, saving her document and closing her laptop.

"That sounds fun. Vampires are popular right now," Lorelei commented, helping herself to some of the popcorn in the bowl.

Rowan rolled her eyes at the thought of the vampires currently running wild in popular culture, "Pansy vampires are popular right now, I want these ones to be a bit more traditional."

"Sleeping in coffins and all that? Jamie thinks one of the teachers at his school is a vampire."

"Really? I'll have to ask him about that later."

"Speaking of Jamie..." the older woman said, seeming to hesitate slightly.

"What's up?" Rowan asked.

"I really hate to ask, but I got called in to work Black Friday, which means I need to go in to the store Thursday night. I tried getting out of it but I'm one of the store managers, so, I _have_ to go. I really need someone to watch Jamie and Sophie."

"That's fine, Aunt, I'm gonna be here anyway," Rowan said with a slight shrug.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, this is going to help me out so much," Lorelei said, seeming to have a weight lifted from her shoulders upon Rowan's agreement.

"It's no problem, they'll be full of turkey and probably exhausted anyway."

"I just wasn't sure if you had plans to go meet up with Danny or not, his family's only a half hour or so out of Burgess aren't they?"

Rowan groaned at the mention of the name, taking a moment to stuff a rather large handful of popcorn into her mouth in order to avoid making a comment for a little while longer.

"Oh no, trouble?" Lorelei asked.

"We broke up last month, I thought mom would have told you since she can't keep a secret," Rowan mumbled.

"No! What happened?" Lorelei seemed honestly surprised at the news.

The young girl sighed, avoided eye contact with her aunt as she continued, "I kind of, sort of, wrote him what might be the greatest breakup letter since the Declaration of Independence. In my humble opinion."

"Oh, Rowan, you did it through a letter?"

"If I tried saying it to his face he was going to get all 'Oh, but Rowan, it's not that way, you know I'm not like that' and try to talk me out of it. Plus I'm better with words when they're written down, anyway."

"What did he do to necessitate this letter?"

"He kept making comments about what I'm doing being a 'hobby.' Yeah, I'm definitely going into debt to get a BFA in Children's Book Illustration and Creative Writing so I can pursue it as a _hobby,"_ Rowan said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. She picked at a sticker on the back of her computer and continued, "Like, he very clearly didn't think there was any way I could make money off of it, and kept making plans for our future that involved him supporting me, and I'm kind of wondering when exactly we agreed to get married because I certainly had no intentions of becoming his house wife."

"Did you tell him that?"

"Yes, and then he offered to try to get me a receptionist position at his dad's law firm. You know, since I got that receptionist job for work study. And I didn't even really know how to respond to that because when did he get the impression that I wanted to be a receptionist for the rest of my life? He seemed to think we would do fine with him doing his journalism thing, even though his writing was _shit_ until I started proof reading for him. He didn't start doing well in his major until after he started hanging out with me."

"Sounds like he didn't have as much faith in you as he did in himself," Lorelei commented, giving Rowan a sympathetic look.

"Auntie, he didn't believe in me at all," Rowan said with a frown. "He didn't believe I could do any of it and make a living off of it. And you know? Maybe I can't. Maybe I _will_ end up as a receptionist to pay the bills while harassing publishing houses with dummy books and ideas. But I have to do this. I _have_ to, I don't know what I'll do without my stories, and I can't be with someone who doesn't believe in them."

"It sounds like you did the right thing," Lorelei said, reaching over and rubbing Rowan's shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting way.

"Yeah... besides, marriage? I'm nineteen! I get terrified committing to classes for a semester," Rowan said with a small laugh.

"You've got _plenty_ of time for that."

"Definitely. I mean, it was fun when he wasn't being a jerk about everything. He was really nice the first couple months... and I do wish it would have worked out but I just couldn't deal with him anymore," Rowan said, sadness clear in her eyes.

"Well, he's missing out," Lorelei said, standing up and kissing the top of Rowan's head. "You're an amazing young lady and any boy would be lucky to be with you."

"You have to say that, you're my aunt," Rowan said, though she couldn't help but smile at the gesture anyway.

"It's still true, Ro," the woman replied with a smile. "Try to go to bed soon."

"I will."

* * *

Jamie stumbled slightly as he followed the trail leading into the small woods around the lake. He had left his home a good ten minutes before, after his mother insisted he eat a waffle and shoved his hat on his head. Sophie had already eaten and was playing with one of Jamie's old action figures at the table. Just as Jamie was about to leave, Rowan had finally rolled off the couch where she had been sleeping and mumbled a "good morning" before pouring at least half the sugar dish into her coffee mug.

After promising his mother that he wouldn't be gone too long, he found himself on this uneven trail, clearly not used very often. The word "trail" had been left in the frost on his window that morning, though the longer he walked the more he began to wonder if there wasn't another trail he was supposed to take.

When he heard jingle bells and a familiar laugh, he knew he was in the right place.

Jamie approached a clearing, a small valley that he had never been to before, finding numerous ice paths, still unfinished. The paths mimicked the drawing he'd given to Jack before. Three elves sat on a makeshift sleigh, cascading down one of the incomplete ramps before flying straight into a snow bank. They stumbled out of the snow dizzily, huge grins on their faces.

"I told you guys, that part's not done yet," Jack laughed, pointing his staff at the ramp and carefully adding another section.

"This is so cool!" Jamie said, his eyes wide as he took in all the parts that were already finished.

"Hey, you got my message!" Jack said, pleased to see the boy. He turned back to watch the elves set up to go down the unfinished ramp again, shaking his head slightly. "It's not done yet but I thought you'd like to see what I have so far."

"When do you think it'll be done?" Jamie asked eagerly, wincing slightly as the elves crashed again.

"Probably later tonight," Jack said, carefully aiming the staff and adding yet another angled block of ice. "I promised North I'd give him back the elves by tomorrow, these guys are on reindeer duty."

The elves in question briefly stopped their ascent back up the hill at this statement and seemed to pout at the idea of taking care of the reindeer.

"What do they do on reindeer duty?" Jamie asked, smiling at their obvious discomfort at the idea.

"Groom them, clean the stables, shoe them," Jack explained. "I think they've been taking them out to fly so they're ready for Christmas, too."

The elves now seemed rather depressed at the idea, one looking especially sad when Jack mentioned the "cleaning the stables" aspect of the job. Jack smiled down at them, before kneeling down and scooping some snow from the ground. He lightly blew onto the snow, watching as it sparkled before throwing the snowball at the elf standing in the center of the other two. The snow bounced off him and hit the others. Their eyes glistened with the magic, and they grinned before taking their sleigh and sliding down the (still unfinished) path yet again.

"Santa must be pretty busy now, huh?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah, but he's got a really efficient system going," Jack said, recalling all the yetis he'd seen adding finishing touches to existing toys, wrapping completed toys, and even beginning last minute designs when he went to retrieve the elves. "Sent him your letter yet?"

"Last week," Jamie said proudly.

"Good, he likes when kids get them in early," Jack said.

"Do you hang out with the other guardians a lot?" Jamie asked.

"Every now and again. Sandy and Tooth are busy a lot, but I'll catch them while they're working sometimes. North and Bunny, I mostly see if there's something important happening or a meeting or if I just feel like messing with Bunny," Jack explained, Jamie hanging on his every word.

"What do you guys do at meetings?" he asked.

"They're _really boring_. Lots of numbers, lots of-" Jack was cut off as the elves crashed into another iced path with a huge _crack_. He winced as they brought themselves back to their feet in an uncoordinated fashion, holding their heads as their bells jingled slightly.

"See, this is why they're testing it out before you guys," Jack said, gliding down to where the elves were and kneeling down before them. "You guys okay?"

The elves didn't seem to be paying much mind to Jack, instead were lumbering about with their arms spread in an attempt to keep their balance.

"Hey!" Jack said, snapping his fingers in front of them, hoping to get their attention. They finally turned to him, one falling over in the process. "Take ten, okay? No sled until you stop seeing spots."

The elves nodded and took a seat in the snow as Jack returned to where Jamie still stood, watching.

"Are they going to be okay?" asked the child, watching the elves with concern.

"They should be, they're pretty resilient," Jack assured him. "Looks like it just shook them up a little. Besides, maybe now I can actually get this part of the course done before they try to test it out again."

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out Jamie's drawing, carefully unrolling it and handing it to the boy. "Willing to be my construction supervisor for a while?"

"Definitely!" Jamie said, looking down at the drawing before pointing to part of the course. "We need at least three feet more ice there, and support beams over there!"

"Can do," Jack laughed, hovering above the areas in question, creating ice as he went.


	3. Sledding

_Rowan's jaw dropped at the sight. The best way it could be described was a slippery, icy, death trap._

* * *

**Chapter Three: Sledding**

* * *

Jamie awoke to a snowball to the face. He laughed a bit, sitting up in his bed slowly as he wiped snow from his eyes and looked to the window where Jack was standing on the sill, smirking.

"It's done," the winter spirit said simply.

Jamie scrambled out of bed, gathering together proper clothes. "This is great, I have to tell the guys!" he said, pulling off his pajama shirt so that he could tug on a flannel shirt instead.

"I'll tell them, you just meet us there," Jack said.

"Okay!" Jamie said as Jack flew off. Jamie continued rushing around his room, hastily getting dressed before tumbling out of his bedroom and rushing down the stairs toward his boots near the door.

"Jamie?" Lorelei said, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Why is he so energetic right now? Can they, like, bottle that? Coffee doesn't do much for me anymore," Rowan mumbled, sipping from her mug before stabbing at her hash browns with her fork.

"I don't think they can bottle 'being nine-years-old'," Lorelei commented before turning back to her son, fumbling with his shoe laces. "Jamie, you have to eat breakfast before you go out to play, we went over this."

"But Mom! There's this place we're gonna go sledding and-"

"And it will still be there after you eat," Lorelei said, pointing to the kitchen table. Jamie pouted and walked over to said table, taking a seat next to Rowan.

"Good morning, Jamie," Rowan said before finishing off her toast.

"Good morning, Rowan," Jamie replied, his eyes fixed on the window.

"Do you want scrambled eggs, Jamie?" Lorelei asked, approaching the stove.

"Yes," Jamie said.

_"Yes?" _Lorelei repeated, watching her son expectantly.

"Yes, _please_," Jamie said with as much emphasis as he could manage.

"Good boy," the woman replied, turning back to the stove and reaching for the carton of eggs.

"You're pretty excited about this sledding thing, aren't you?" Rowan commented, gathering together her dishes and heading to the sink.

"It's gonna be so cool! You should come with me," Jamie said excitedly.

"I don't have a sled," Rowan pointed out.

"We have an extra one," Jamie said.

"You should go, it'll be fun," Lorelei said, her eyes fixed on the pan in front of her. "Besides, the last time Jamie went sledding he knocked out a tooth, I'd like it if someone was there to keep an eye on him."

"I'll be fine!" Jamie said.

"I'll go, I just have to put real clothes on, brush my hair," Rowan said, "Give me like ten minutes."

"That's fine, Jamie has to eat and brush his teeth anyway," Lorelei said, sliding eggs from the pan onto a plate for the boy who was becoming more and more impatient.

"All right, give me a few," Rowan said, heading to the living room where she left her backpack. She slung it over her shoulder before heading into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She set the bag on the floor and turned on the faucet before pulling her hair back in a ponytail so she could wash her face.

"When was the last time I went sledding?" Rowan mumbled to herself, scrubbing face wash into her cheeks. It would be a lie to say that she hadn't considered it every time campus was covered with a few inches, always enough to be an inconvenience but never enough for a snow day. She and her friend, Shirley, had definitely sneaked out of a few studio classes to build a snowman before. But no sledding, not for a long time.

"Freshman year," she said, patting her face dry. High school, that is, not college. She had just dyed her hair pink without her mother's permission, it was fried, brittle and dry from the bleach but Rowan had adored it. She and a few of her friends, also with various physical statements of rebellion such as self-pierced lips and studded bracelets decided to take a few trash can lids and boards and slide down a hill.

As Rowan pulled on a sweater she remembered having fallen into the snow, and upon standing up, leaving streaks of pink where her hair had been.

"Embarrassing," she mumbled as she remembered the state of her hair at that time. Two years later she cut all the bleached parts off, leaving her with a bob cut to get rid of the damage. She examined her reflection in the mirror, touching the dark brown roots of her hair as she thought of this. The burgundy dye required no preliminary bleaching since Rowan wanted the color dark anyway, so it caused significantly less damage.

"Note to self, buy another box of dye," she said before pulling out her hairbrush from her bag and running it through her hair. Some days she missed the pink, truthfully. But she went to an art and design college. There were at least six other girls wandering around with pink hair, and the upkeep had been a pain.

She pulled on a knit hat, effectively covering her roots before sliding her jeans on and emerging from the bathroom, finding Jamie rushing from the kitchen so that he could brush his teeth and be permitted to leave.

"Whoa, slow down!" Rowan said, stepping aside quickly to avoid being plowed into by her cousin.

"Sorry!" he said, continuing his mad dash up the stairs to the bathroom where his toothbrush, decorated with various super heroes, was located.

Rowan set her bag in the corner and wandered over to the door where her boots lie, pulling them on. Sledding. It had been so long!

Jamie re-appeared quickly, only to be sent back to brush his teeth more thoroughly by Lorelei. Soon enough, though, Jamie led Rowan through the garage to retrieve the sleds and soon they were outside the house, ready to be on their way.

"Oh, come _on,"_ Rowan whined as she saw her car coated in snow and frost, brushing some of it off her mirror as they passed. "That's gonna be fun to scrape off later. Never start driving, Jamie."

"Come on, this way!" Jamie said, seemingly so focused on getting to wherever this sledding location was that he hadn't heard her.

"Slow down, everything's icy!" Rowan said, carefully pursuing the boy, eventually catching up to him as they approached the lake. He began heading for a trail near the woods.

"Where are we going?" Rowan asked.

"You'll see!" Jamie said.

"You're not actually taking me to try to hunt Bigfoot or something, are you? Because I don't think he lives around here, I think he's further north," Rowan said, ducking under a low branch as they began walking the trail.

"He is, and his name is Phil," Jamie said in a matter-of-fact tone. "We're going sledding, trust me."

"Okay, if you say so," Rowan said skeptically, twisting a small braid in her hair as they walked, a nervous habit. She pulled a small, clear band from her pocket and fastened it in place before starting another, finding that they had been walking for a while.

"Sure you know where you're going?" she asked again.

"We're almost there!" Jamie assured her, and a few steps later, sure enough they approached the clearing, Jamie's friends waiting for them.

Rowan's jaw dropped at the sight. The best way it could be described was a slippery, icy, death trap. Nature had not created this scene, but Rowan could not exactly pinpoint what else could have constructed the course that twisted along the valley in smooth, icy sheets.

"Jamie, this is so cool!" Pippa said as soon as Jamie joined the others where they stood.

"We were waiting for you to go first," Claude added, though he and his brother seemed to be growing impatient in the waiting.

"Hi Rowan," Cupcake said, finally drawing Rowan out of her state of shock at the whole scene. She had met the group over the summer during a visit and had taken a particular liking to the tall girl addressing her.

"Oh, hello Cupcake," Rowan said. She turned back to the course before addressing Jamie, "Jamie, this looks really dangerous."

"It's fine, Rowan!" Jamie assured her before setting up his sled.

"No, really, Jamie-" Rowan started before the boy climbed on his sled. "Jamie, don't!"

But it was too late, the boy had already started off on the course. Rowan dropped the sled she had been carrying in front of her in order to cover her mouth, watching with eyes wide in horror as her little cousin went speeding around the valley. The other children cheered.

"Oh no, oh no," Rowan mumbled. Claude and Caleb rushed over to the edge and rushed after Jamie. "No-!" Rowan began but Monty, Pippa and Cupcake rapidly followed.

"Oh no," she said again. "What am I going to tell Aunt Lorelei? 'Oh, sorry, Aunt, I know you trusted me with your _first born_ and _only son_, but he went cascading down an icy path and broke his neck.' Not to mention, 'Oh, I'm sorry, parents of children _I don't even know well_, they just went tumbling after him, it all just happened so fast, I couldn't prevent it because I just _suck that much."_

Rowan glanced back at the children speeding about the course and covered her eyes quickly as Jamie came to a jump, peeking between her fingers when she heard them laughing, finding that he was okay for now. For a brief moment, she was relieved.

Jack, who had been watching the whole ordeal from the high branch of a nearby tree, smirked at Rowan rehearsing what she would tell everyone's mother if the worst were to occur. He gathered together a bit of snow from the tree and kneaded it within his hands until it was a proper snowball. He lightly blew on the snowball, watching as it turned blue briefly before throwing it at the back of Rowan's head.

She jerked forward at the impact, taken by surprised and looked around for whoever threw the snow briefly as she laughed. "And now there's snowball-throwing ghosts, _great!"_

"Hey, wind…" Jack whispered, still smirking. The wind picked up so suddenly that Rowan found herself losing her balance until she finally fell forward on the sled she'd dropped earlier. She let out a small shriek as the sled was forced forward and down the course.

Rowan clung to the sled until her knuckles were white as she picked up speed along the course. She closed her eyes and winced at the first few sharp turns but soon found that she actually looked forward to them when she realized she wasn't going to be flung off the path. The momentum blew her hair back, cold air making her shut her eyes slightly as she went. She couldn't help her laughter and the excitement that seemed to consume her as the ride continued. Sudden drops, quick jumps, it was all too thrilling.

She was genuinely having fun, and she couldn't really remember the last time that happened. She reached the end of the course, which was one last jump. She closed her eyes once again and prepared for impact as she saw a large snow bank quickly approaching.

Rowan groaned a bit as she crash landed into the soft snow, glad that it had at least been a cushioned landing. She pulled herself up to a seated position to find the children standing nearby, having landed without a scratch. Stumbling over to them, still covered in snow, Rowan approached Jamie and pulled him into her arms.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Jamie, I thought this thing was gonna kill _all of you_," she said. Jamie grinned at Jack, still watching from his tree and gave him the thumbs up, which the winter spirit returned.

"I told you it would be okay," Jamie said as Rowan finally released him from her grasp, still kneeling in the snow.

"You did," Rowan acknowledged, smiling as she brushed snow off of herself. "I was still worried."

"It was fun, though, wasn't it?" he said.

Rowan paused a moment, looking back to the course before locking her brown eyes with Jamie's once more. "That was the most fun I've had in a while, actually."

"Let's go again, let's go again!" Claude and Caleb began to chant. Soon the others had joined in.

Rowan sighed, "Okay, okay… race you back to the start!"


	4. Bedtime Stories

_"Once upon a time, there was a boy. A boy named... hmm..."_

_"You're not gonna do what Mom does and say, 'Once upon a time there was a boy named Jamie who wouldn't go to bed' are you?" Jamie asked with a frown._

* * *

Chapter Four: Bedtime Stories

* * *

"Well, I think dinner was a success," Lorelei commented as she attempted to fit all of the leftovers into the fridge. It was Thursday evening, Thanksgiving, and she and Rowan were in the process of cleaning the kitchen.

"I think so too," Rowan agreed, "I'm just glad I didn't mess up the mashed potatoes. I mean, I know they're pretty difficult _to_ mess up, but still."

"You did fine with them- What's that?" Lorelei said, glancing over at her niece, who was leaning over the open dishwasher to place a handful of utensils in the proper place. Her hair and shifted from the back of her neck just enough to see _something_ there.

Rowan stood straight suddenly, brown eyes wider than usual. "What's what?"

"On the back of your neck," Lorelei said, trying to walk around to Rowan's back, but the girl kept turning to keep this from happening.

"On the back of my neck?" Rowan repeated innocently.

_"Rowan,"_ Lorelei said, speeding up a bit and changing direction in an attempt to see what Rowan was hiding. Rowan simply continued to turn. It seemed like a strange sort of dance they were performing, Rowan still holding a fork in her hand as she went.

"Really, Aunt, you have to leave for work soon, I don't know that there's time to worry about things like my neck, so long as it's not currently broken," said Rowan in a matter-of-fact tone.

Finally Lorelei took Rowan's shoulder in one hand and leaned over, pushing her hair away with the other one, finding black script when she did so.

_"Rowan Jean Sawyer,"_ Lorelei said.

"Lorelei Jean Bennett?" Rowan said, biting her lip nervously as she finally ceased spinning, accepting that she had lost the strange game of keep away.

"Is that a tattoo? On the back of your _neck?"_ the older woman said, walking around her niece in order to take a closer look. The script was elegant, with graceful curves and twirls, but still legible. It was obviously done with care, by someone skilled.

It read: Once Upon A Time.

"Please don't tell my parents, I'm pretty sure they would take care of the whole 'my neck isn't broken right now' thing," Rowan said. "They already weren't happy about my stars." She held up her left wrist, adorned with two stars, the one to the right slightly larger.

"How many secrets do you expect me to keep from them?" Lorelei asked as Rowan turned around to properly face her. "First the incidents in traffic on the way over, now this tattoo."

"Okay you know the traffic thing is just for mom's own good, she'd worry herself into a coma but only after making sure that her living will stated I had to come home and never leave the house again because people are dangerous," Rowan said immediately. "And the tattoo, uh, well, that's mostly for _my_ own good since it's kind of amazing that Dad didn't actually disown me when I went out and got my _second_ one…"

"Why did this have to be on the back of your _neck?_" Lorelei asked, some sadness clear in her voice as she simply could not understand why the girl would do such a thing.

"All stories start with 'once upon a time,' but only after an idea," Rowan said, tapping the side of her head. "Keep those two things close."

"Oh, Rowan," Lorelei said, shaking her head.

"Hey, most of the time you can't even see it."

"How long has it been there?"

"Halloween. Shirley got her humming bird and I got this."

Lorelei shook her head again, arms crossed before her chest. "How many does this make?"

"Three," Rowan said. Lorelei rose a brow. "Don't look at me like that, it really is just three."

"I don't like keeping secrets from my sister, and if she figures it out and finds out that _I_ knew and didn't tell her…"

"Well, she'll call you to be like, 'You'll never guess what Rowan did to herself!' and then you can just be surprised when she rages about it?" Rowan suggested with an innocent smile. Lorelei simply sighed. "Okay how about this?"

"How about what?"

"If I go missing and the police need a detailed description of what I look like and my body markings, by all means, you can tell both them _and_ my parents about my tattoo, deal?" Rowan reached out her hand to shake.

"That's an _awful_ hypothetical," Lorelei said.

"It absolutely is, deal?" Rowan asked again.

The older woman sighed and took Rowan's hand, shaking it briefly. "Deal."

Rowan released her aunt's hand before hugging her briefly. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

"Yeah, yeah, but if Dot finds out, that's when _I'm_ finding out," Lorelei said.

"Of course, I won't sell you out," Rowan promised, returning to the dishwasher to finish loading it. Lorelei smiled softly before stuffing the last few plastic containers into the fridge and leaving the kitchen to get ready for work, passing a frost-covered window as she went.

Jack had been passing by when he had decided to peek in, and was glad he did. The exchange and the manic spinning around the kitchen had been quite entertaining while it had lasted.

However, Rowan continuing to put the dishes away failed to keep his interest much longer, and he pulled his hood over his head before raising himself up to Jamie's bedroom window.

"Jamie, close your window, it's freezing outside!" Lorelei said, as though on cue, the moment Jack approached said window.

"Okay, Mom," Jamie said, getting up from the desk where he'd been working on a drawing and walking toward the window, finding Jack sitting on the sill.

"Hi Jack," Jamie greeted with a smile.

"Hey Jamie, how'd Thanksgiving go?"

"It was good. Mom has to work soon though," Jamie said with a small frown and shrug of the shoulders.

"Rowan watching you guys, then?" Jack asked.

"Yep," Jamie paused a moment before seeming to get an idea he was rather excited about. "You should come back in a little bit! I'm going to try to get her to tell me a bedtime story."

"Bedtime story?" Jack repeated. He liked stories and all, but he didn't quite understand why Jamie was so excited about the idea of one.

"Rowan tells the _best_ stories," Jamie insisted.

"I don't know, I've heard a lot of stories," Jack said with a smirk.

"They're the _best._ Plus, she owes me one, she hasn't told me a story the whole visit."

"Jamie! What did I tell you about that window?" Lorelei said, appearing in the doorway with Sophie.

"Sorry, mom!" Jamie said. Jack climbed back outside, hovering nearby while Jamie reached for and closed the window in question.

"Honestly, Jamie, you'll catch your death," Lorelei said as Jamie walked back over to her after glancing at his window one last time. Lorelei kneeled down before her two children before giving them each a quick hug. "You two behave for Rowan, okay? I want you both in bed soon! You both know the rules, lights out, no late TV, no sweets after you brush your teeth.

"Why are you going to work at night, Mommy?" Sophie pouted.

"We're having a big sale, so they need me there to make sure people buy lots of things," Lorelei said. "I'll be back before you two wake up, I promise."

The woman kissed the top of both children's heads before standing up and heading down the staircase. "Be good!" She called back to them again as she slipped on her coat and boots.

"Bye-bye Mommy," Sophie called, she and Jamie sitting at the top of the stairs, watching as their mother gathered together purse and keys.

"Bye, Mom," Jamie called as well.

"I love you guys," she called up to them with a smile.

"Love you too," they said in unison as Rowan left the kitchen and entered the front room.

"Love you, too, Rowan," Lorelei said as her niece approached.

"Oh, I love you too, Aunt, I love _everyone_ who can keep a secret," Rowan smirked. "Be careful driving."

"I will, you call me if you need me, there's emergency numbers on the fridge, too, and-"

"Call 9-1-1 if the house catches fire, don't talk to strangers, we'll be fine!" Rowan said. "Go to work!"

Lorelei pulled Rowan into a quick hug before waving to Sophie and Jamie, still seated at the top of the stairs. The next moment she was out the front door, and the sound of her car starting could be heard.

Rowan ascended the stairs, stopping short at the top as her little cousins were still seated there.

"All right, kids, you heard the lady, time to get ready for bed, let's go, get those teeth brushed," she said.

Sophie yawned in response before saying, "Not tired!"

"I somehow doubt that, come on," Rowan said, taking Sophie's hand and leading her to the bathroom where she climbed atop a stool in order to reach her tooth brush. Jamie followed, taking his place on the other side of the sink.

The usual routine followed, with Rowan following Sophie into her room after everything was finished with the bathroom to put her to bed. Jamie was free to return to his room alone and climb into his bed, watching the window.

Jack hadn't wandered far when the bedroom window had to be closed, choosing instead to sit atop the roof and watch Lorelei drive off before starting a small snowstorm.

Should he stick around for a story? Jamie's claim of Rowan's being the _best_ was awfully bold. It might just be worth investigating.

Jack walked over to the edge of the roof, leaning over so that he might glance through one of the top panes of the window to see what was going on.

Rowan peeked into Jamie's bedroom, finding him sitting upright in his bed, watching as the snow hit the glass of his window. His eyes were focused; he was ever alert and very much awake.

"The Sandman hasn't visited you yet, Jamie?" Rowan asked, stepping inside his room and approaching him where he sat.

"I'm not tired," Jamie said, turning his attention from the window and to his cousin.

"I managed to get Sophie to sleep right away," Rowan said, sitting at the edge of his bed and looking around at the drawings pinned to the wall in the dim light of the boy's toy robot that doubled as a night light. "I thought she'd be the hard one."

"Maybe you should tell me a story," Jamie suggested, smiling winningly up at the girl, who turned her head back to face him. She returned his grin, unsurprised at his request. He always demanded a story out of her when she visited.

"A story, huh? I suppose I could do that," Rowan said, pulling her legs atop the bed so that she sat cross-legged across from the boy. "Once upon a time, there was a boy. A boy named... hmm..."

"You're not gonna do what Mom does and say, 'Once upon a time there was a boy named Jamie who wouldn't go to bed' are you?" Jamie asked with a frown.

Rowan laughed at the suggestion, Jack couldn't help but smile, leaning over a bit more in the hopes of perhaps hearing better. "My mom used to do that, too. No, I won't."

"Good," Jamie said, satisfied.

"But this boy still needs a name," Rowan pointed out.

Jamie glanced behind Rowan, spying Jack, who smiled once eye contact was made. Pleased to see that Jack had come back to hear the story, Jamie turned back to Rowan and immediately suggested, "Jack."

"Jack?" Rowan repeated, seeming to mull over the suggestion for a moment. "Okay, Jack. Once upon a time, there was a boy named Jack. He was young, a trickster, as boys named 'Jack' tend to be."

Jack wasn't sure if he should take offense to such a generalization or not, considering how true it was in his case. After all, he _did_ hold the record on North's naughty list.

"Jack was... a pirate," Rowan said, spying a copy of _Treasure Island_ on Jamie's bookshelf, clearly making things up as she went along.

"Like Captain Jack Sparrow?" the boy asked.

"No," Rowan said immediately. "This Jack wasn't a captain. And he consumed far less alcohol, so he was actually a bit more efficient than Jack Sparrow-"

_"Captain_ Jack Sparrow," Jamie corrected immediately.

"Right, right," Rowan said, nodding. "This Jack was about as low on the pirate food-chain as he could be. Forced to, hmm... scrub the brig and scrape barnacles off the side of the ship whenever it was at port."

Jack wasn't sure how he felt about this story quite yet.

"But one night there was a terrible storm," the girl said dramatically with accompanying hand gestures. "The ship was destroyed, the captain, of course, went down with it, and the roaring waves left no survivors... no survivors except for one."

"Jack," Jamie said, completely fixated with his cousin's words.

"Exactly! Clinging to a piece of driftwood, Jack struggled through the storm to stay above water, always seconds away from a watery death."

"Watery death? What a coincidence," Jack whispered to himself.

"His fighting wasn't for nothing, though. Soon enough, the storm passed, and Jack found himself washed up on an island."

"Was it deserted?" Jamie asked.

"No, no, not at all," Rowan said, as though she were already an expert on this place she had just invented. "It was part of a whole chain of islands, established towns with a government and everything. This one, though, this one wasn't as developed as the other ones, so at first, Jack thought it _was_ deserted."

"What did he do?"

"Yeah, what did I do?" Jack muttered.

"He pulled himself to his feet and stumbled through the thick forest on the edge of the island before he came to a stream and drank like he'd never seen fresh water before in his life. Then he decided to follow the stream, hoping that it would bring him to a lake where he could set up camp until he figured out what to do from there.

"Along the way, he found the small island town, and for a moment was relieved that he was not, actually, on a deserted island. However, he still looked very much like a pirate, and as pirates are notorious criminals, Jack felt it was best to get cleaned up before wandering into town. He'd been thrown in jail before, and he wasn't in a big rush to go back. So, he continued along the stream, still hoping to find a lake at the end.

"But when he found the lake, he found something else, as well. It was a strange little hut with symbols he'd never seen before carved into the sides and odd colored smoke erupting from an opening in the roof."

"A witch!" Jamie exclaimed.

"Shh, shh, your sister's still sleeping," Rowan hushed. Jamie immediately shut his mouth and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"It's okay," Rowan said. "But you're right, it was a witch!"

"What did he do?"

"Jack was no fool, he knew it wasn't a good idea to get on a witch's bad side. But Jack also knew that he was very charming, and was very confident that he could get her to help him figure out where exactly he was... and why he kept having such bad luck. So he approached the hut and knocked on the door. The witch answered, watching him suspiciously and demanding to know who he was. He introduced himself, and explained what had happened. He was _really_ suave about the whole thing before asking if she'd be willing to help a weary traveler out."

"Did she?"

"How could she resist?" Rowan asked. Jack smirked, deciding that he _did_ like this story. "She brought him inside and began serving him some very questionable looking food, which under normal circumstances he would have never eaten. But he was so hungry after everything that happened with the ship that he choked down the strange looking dishes... but only after seeing the witch do the same. After they were full, they sat by the fire, upon which was a bubbling cauldron. The witch asked him what was troubling him, and he told her all about his time as a pirate, and how he'd always get stuck with the worst chores and was now without a ship or a crew at all. In fact, he'd _always_ had bad luck, ever since his childhood."

"Did she give him a potion? A charm? A magic spell?" Jamie asked, lying back and resting his head against his pillows while the story continued.

"No, no, none of that. All of that costs money and Jack had nothing to his name. She took a liking to Jack, though, and had been so lonely that she was thankful for his companionship, so decided to give him something for free: information."

"Information?" Jamie asked, pouting. That sounded so much less exciting than a spell or a potion.

"Information is priceless, Jamie, remember that," Rowan said. "She explained to Jack that she knew precisely what the cause of his bad luck was: a curse."

Jamie yawned, his energy fading, though still entirely interested in the story. "Who cursed him?"

"A sea witch, that's why he was safe temporarily with the land witch, they don't interfere with each other much," Rowan said.

"Did she know why?"

"Of course. Jack's father, you see, was also very charming, and also a pirate. He had charmed the sea witch to get to her riches and then broken her heart, so she vowed revenge by cursing him and his first born son with terrible luck, though never enough to kill them. No, she wanted them to live to continue having an incredibly unlucky existence. At least, until she decided they had suffered enough."

"Was there anything he could do about it?" Jamie asked, his eyelids getting heavy.

"Yes, there was. He had to find the sea witch and defeat her in one of her games, then the curse would be broken. But there was a problem with that plan, you see, to summon the sea witch, you have to drop some gold off the dock during a full moon. Jack had just missed the full moon, however, and would have to wait a month for the next one, not to mention he didn't have any gold."

"What did he do?" Jamie mumbled, now struggling to keep his eyes open. Rowan stood up from her place on the end of the bed and took Jamie's stuffed rabbit, setting it beside him before making sure he was tucked into his bed well.

"I think we'll save the rest of the story for another night," Rowan whispered, before kissing Jamie's forehead. "Goodnight, Jamie."

"Are you kidding? It was just getting interesting," Jack mumbled.

Jamie seemed slightly disappointed as well, but didn't have enough energy to argue. "Goodnight, Rowan," he yawned before finally giving up on the fight to keep his eyes open.

Jack watched as Rowan slipped out of Jamie's bedroom before pulling himself back up to a standing position atop the roof and strolling across to the other side of the house. Gracefully, he lowered himself down to the ground outside the living room window and peeked inside just in time to find Rowan turning on the lamp near the couch. She stretched and yawned before curling up on the cushions with the blanket she'd been using.

Abby got up from her place near the heating vent and climbed atop the couch with Rowan, setting her head in her lap. Rowan smiled and scratched behind Abby's ears for a moment before leaning over to her backpack on the floor and pulling out a beaten up notebook and pen.

"I need to outline this story, Abbey, before I forget more of my ideas," Rowan explained to the dog as she looked for a blank page. When she found one, she began scribbling madly. In-between wondering what exactly Rowan was writing down, Jack took note of the fact that she was left-handed.

"I think I know how Jack will get his gold," Rowan said to the dog, still scribbling in the notebook. Jack perked up, hoping that she might explain to the dog so he would find out more of the story before the night was through. "But I have to think on it a bit more, make sure it will work story-wise, you know?"

Abby simply closed her eyes, in response. Rowan smiled, shifting a bit so she was a bit more comfortable with the dog sleeping before returning her attention to her notebook.

Jack found himself waiting and watching Rowan as she wrote her notes, her pace gradually slowing until she stopped writing all together, falling asleep with her head resting in her palm. Above her head, a pirate ship made of the Sandman's golden dream sand appeared, sailing on harsh waters.

"Thought you only brought dreams to kids, Sandy," Jack said, glancing up at the skies to the fantastic dream sand creatures gliding by. He made a mental note to ask about this the next time he saw the small, silent man.

After one last glance through the window, Jack took off towards home base where he planned to get at least a few hours of shut-eye in before he'd get started on his blizzard he had planned.


	5. Promises

A/N: Sorry for the wait between chapters, guys! This one is nice and long, though, so hopefully that makes up for the delay. I also want to say thank you for the reviews, I really appreciate it.

* * *

_It worked out just too well. Nature didn't play games like that._

* * *

**Chapter Five: Promises**

* * *

"Rowan, I really don't want you to leave today," Lorelei said, stuffing her hands into her pockets as the snow continued to fall and Rowan struggled to scrape the ice from her windshield. Her jeep sounded somewhat depressed as it ran, not yet warmed up. Jamie lingered near the car, brushing snow off the doors with his gloved hands.

"I have to, Aunt, I've gotta try to work on that painting sometime this weekend since I flaked out and didn't bring it with me, and Shirley and I want to go over our history presentation at _some_ point before we have to present it," Rowan said. She lifted up her windshield wipers so that she could properly scrape beneath them, cursing softly under her breath at the weather.

"We're supposed to get more than a foot of snow just tonight, though, you really ought to wait it out," Lorelei said as she entered the open garage and retrieved her own ice scraper to help Rowan out.

"You should stay and tell me the rest of that story," Jamie suggested, looking up at the girl with a winning smile.

"Aw, I still need to sort out how that story's gonna end," Rowan said, gently setting her windshield wiper back in its original position. Her attention turned briefly to Lorelei. "Besides, the weather's supposed to get even worse throughout the weekend, if I wait it out I won't be able to get back until Monday evening at the earliest and I'll miss a day of finals."

"Surely if the roads get as bad as they're saying they will they'll have to give you a day off?"

"Ha!" Rowan said, scraping ice from the driver's side window now. "I go to a private college, which means that even if every other school in the state is closed, they don't have to give us the day off. And they _definitely _won't do that during finals."

"That's just ridiculous, this storm is supposed to be just awful! And don't you still have two weeks left of the semester? Why are you having finals next week?"

"That's my school," Rowan said, moving on to scrape the next window so she might be able to see out of her blind spot for a little while, at least. "Because I go to art school and 'finals week' is really more like, a month. It's mostly the liberal arts classes that are doing 'finals: part one' this week."

"I do not miss school. Ugh, I'm just worried, you already had issues with the weather on the way here," Lorelei said.

"I know you are, but I should be fine, I mean, hopefully everyone else is waiting it out and there won't be too much traffic?" the girl said with a bit of a shrug.

"You just make sure that you have your phone charged, and that first aid kit, and-"

"It's going to be fine, Aunt," Rowan stressed. "I tell you what, if I think it's gonna be too much to handle, I'll turn around and come right back, okay?"

"Come right back and tell me the _rest of the story,"_ Jamie corrected.

"I will call you once I decide how the story ends, how about that?" Rowan laughed, leaning against her car as Jamie kneaded together some of the nearby snow into an orb.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"You'd _better_ come back if things get too rough," Lorelei said, bringing the two back to the subject at hand. "Dot is going to be _so mad_ at me when I tell her that you left in this weather."

"You tried to stop me, but I wouldn't listen," Rowan said with a short nod as Lorelei returned her scraper to its original place, the windows of Rowan's jeep now free from ice.

"You are such a frustrating child," Lorelei said.

"Hey, I'm not a child!" Rowan said with a pout as she set her scraper back in her car. "I'm only a teenager for another _week," _she added, matter-of-factly. Rowan jumped suddenly as the snowball that Jamie had been working on hit the back of her head. She turned to find the boy avoiding eye contact with an innocent smile, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Oh, that's right," Lorelei said as Rowan hastily formed a snowball and began chasing a laughing Jamie around the yard. "You might find a package when you get back."

"… you got me something?" Rowan said, stopping her pursuit and looking back to her car where Lorelei still stood. "You didn't have to do that, Aunt, you fed me and let me use your washing machine."

"You are my _only_ niece, I think I can get you a birthday gift," Lorelei said.

"It's a really good one, I helped her pick it out!" Jamie said, approaching Rowan again. Rowan turned and threw the snowball in her hand at Jamie in response, now that he was close enough that even _she_ could not miss him. Jamie quickly kneeled down to gather more snow and Rowan rushed over to Lorelei, ducking behind her.

"That's really nice, thank you, but you really didn't have to-"

"Just let me know if it got there okay," Lorelei said, giving her son a look as though daring him to throw the snowball in his hand at her in an attempt to hit Rowan. He lowered his snowy weapon and pouted.

"Okay, I will," Rowan said. She raised her hands in the air, as if showing she was unarmed and stepped out from behind Lorelei. "Call it a draw, Admiral? I need to pack my car."

"Awww," Jamie said, tossing the snowball to the side. "Fine, okay."

The three approached the front porch where Rowan had set down her bags while she got her car situated and where Sophie sat on a wooden bench, carefully brushing the hair of a doll. Each taking a bag, they returned to the car to load it. "So, uh, if the package _is_ there… do I get to open it now or do I have to wait until my birthday?"

"It's your gift, I'll leave that up to you," replied Lorelei as Rowan opened the back of her jeep and they gently set the bags inside.

"I'm opening it," she decided immediately.

"All right, sounds good," Lorelei laughed before turning her attention back to the porch where Sophie still sat. "Sophie! Come over here and say goodbye to Rowan!"

The small blonde approached the group, her doll still in her arm. Rowan went down the line, embracing each of the Bennetts, ending with Jamie.

"You _promise_ you'll call and tell me the rest of the story?" Jamie stressed.

"Yes, yes, I will," Rowan said before kissing the boy's forehead. "And I want you to keep drawing and have some stories to tell _me_ next time I visit, okay?"

"Okay," Jamie agreed.

"Love you, Jamie."

"Love you too, Rowan."

Rowan stood upright so that she was no longer at the boy's eye level and was about to head for the driver's side of the car when Lorelei pulled her into another hug.

"You text me when you get to your apartment!" Lorelei said.

"I will, I will! You _and_ mom. I swear, you guys are like Grandma sometimes," Rowan said, returning her aunt's hug.

"We are _not_ as bad as her," Lorelei said immediately.

"Give it a few years and you two will be saying, _'Oh, my land!_' Seriously, though, stop worrying so much, it's just a… okay, it's a lot of snow, but I'll be fine. I mean, the interstate's still open so it can't be _that_ bad."

"Rowan, really, _you don't_ _have to drive in this_. Just let that school try to penalize you for missing a day, they'll have to answer to Dot."

"While the wrath of Dorothy Sawyer is a powerful weapon to have on my side, I can't run to Mom and Dad to fix all my problems. Besides, if I miss school I'm missing work study, too, and I could use the cash, Christmas is coming up after all."

Lorelei sighed, sadness in her eyes as it became clear that Rowan was going to leave no matter what she said. _"Be careful_. It's going to get ugly out there, you drive slow and-"

_"I'm going to be fine,_ really. Now I've got to go, okay?"

Lorelei pulled Rowan into one more hug. "I love you. Be careful!"

"Ditto, and I will!"

Rowan pulled away from the older woman's arms and rushed to the driver's side door before she could begin objecting again. The car already running, Rowan pushed a few buttons on the stereo in order to prompt a CD to play, fastened her seatbelt, and backed out of the driveway.

She paused to return the waves of the Bennetts before flipping on her windshield wipers and driving off. Jamie stood with his mother and sister and watched Rowan's car until it turned the corner at the end of the street.

Once inside, Lorelei sat at the kitchen table to begin going through the mail, though behind her glasses, her eyes showed clear worry. Every few moments she'd stop to look out the window at the snow rapidly hitting the glass.

Jamie frowned at this, not enjoying seeing Lorelei so shaken up in the least. The winter had brought so much joy the past few days, but his mother's worry was now starting to get to him as well. He quickly headed for his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Fumbling around his desk briefly, he pulled out a blank piece of paper and a pencil. Sitting himself down at the desk, he sharpened his pencil and began to write, careful to make sure it was legible.

The letter wasn't long, but Jamie figured that it would do the job. Setting down his pencil after signing his name in the cursive that he had just gone through the motions of learning, the boy began to fold the letter. It was meticulous work, but when he was through, he held in his hands quite the impressive paper airplane.

Walking up to and opening his window, Jamie shivered as cold air burst inside, along with some of the snow that was falling.

"H-hey wind!" Jamie said hesitantly. "I don't know if you'll listen to me, since I'm not Jack. But I have a letter for him," the boy held up his airplane, as if to show the wind, "and I was hoping you would help me get it to him. It's _really_ important."

The wind shifted slightly, and Jamie wasn't sure if that was a response or not, and if it was, whether it was positive or negative. He supposed there was only one way to find out.

Taking careful aim, Jamie threw the paper airplane forward with all his might. The airplane glided forward for a moment, the flight shaky due to snow hitting it, and began to fall slowly to the ground, prompting a frown from Jamie.

However, in the next instant, the airplane jerked upwards once more, looping around in the air for a moment before making a grand sweep around the yard and past Jamie's window.

Jamie smiled as the airplane was carried off into the distance, and uttered a simple, "thanks," before closing his window.

* * *

Most people would think that an open window in the middle of a snowstorm with strong winds would do little to help one sleep. Jack Frost, however, did not adhere to conventional standards of comfort, as was apparent from his current state: sprawled out on the mattress on the floor of his small cabin.

The previously mentioned open window was letting plenty of snow inside, collecting on the floor and on top of Jack himself, still slumbering soundly.

There was nothing stopping Jack from continuing to sleep his day away. Nothing, that is, except for a paper airplane, currently preparing to crash land right into Jack's forehead.

"Mmph," he mumbled at impact, rolling over, eyes still closed. The wind picked up again, and once more the airplane hit him in the forehead.

_"What?"_ Jack growled, opening his eyes to see what had struck him. He sat upright, taking the airplane in his hand before glancing up at the window as a particularly large snowflake hit his cheek.

"Oh good, I'm making blizzards in my sleep again," Jack said sarcastically through a yawn. "That's embarrassing."

Glancing back down at the airplane, he carefully unfolded it, surprised to find a letter from Jamie. It read:

_Dear Jack,_

_ I hope you are doing well. Rowan just left to drive back to college. My mom is very worried about her because of the storm._

_ I know that Guardians are supposed to protect the children of the world, and that Rowan is kind of an adult, but Guardians are supposed to protect things like wonder and hope, right? Rowan is full of these things._

_ Could you maybe make sure that Rowan gets back to college safely? She is not a very good driver (don't tell her I said that) and could use the help._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Jamie Bennett_

Jack sighed, considering the letter for a moment. The storm he'd conjured up now _was_ far harsher than the one that Rowan had driven to Burgess in. Jamie was important to him, and Rowan was important to Jamie. Keeping an eye on her car until she got to wherever she was going didn't sound like the most _fun_ way to spend the day, but it wouldn't be a difficult task by any means.

Not to mention, Jack was still curious about the story she had started telling the boy the previous night.

Jack pulled himself to his feet, snatched a pen from the shelves on the wall, and hastily scribbled a response below Jamie's letter.

_Jamie-_

_ I promise I'll protect her._

_ -Jack_

Jack carefully refolded the airplane and let the wind carry it from his hands and out the window, where it would soon find its way back to Jamie.

"Now I just have to find her," he mumbled to himself as he snatched up his staff and flew outside. The scene was beautiful, inches upon inches of snow coating every surface outside. It was stunning, absolutely stunning, provided you were not one of the people currently trying to drive in it, shovel it, plow it, or any of those other necessary winter chores.

When Jack approached the interstate, he found three snowplows leading the way west with a great number of cars following closely behind. Flying lower, Jack scanned over the cars, trying to find the green jeep with the dents in the bumper and Mjolnir hanging from the rearview mirror. He found her in the middle lane, not far behind the plows. She was singing along to music he could barely hear from outside the car when he got closer.

Carefully, he landed atop the car, standing on the roof as a surfer might stand on their board. He raised his arms to keep balance better and laughed a bit to himself, finding this new activity to be acceptable. He could have a little fun and keep an eye on Rowan at the same time. Perfect!

That is, until the brake lights of the cars in front of them flashed, prompting Rowan to step on her brake pedal as well. Jack stumbled at the sudden change and found his feet slipping from underneath him. He fell forward, thankfully still on the roof of the car and groaned a bit, gripping the side briefly to keep from sliding forward.

"Okay, so maybe that was dumb," Jack said, pulling himself into a seated position, deciding this was a bit more stable as the cars inched forward.

Looking ahead, he found that the reason for the sudden decline in speed was a sheet of ice covering the road. Several cars were having issues maintaining their lanes. Jack eyed the road, trying to decide how to handle this. Guiding a single kid's sleigh along ice he had total control over was one thing, but this car had to be over a ton, and it wasn't the only one.

"And I didn't even ice _this_ road on purpose," he sighed, barely having a second to contemplate his next move when the line of cars before Rowan's began to slide slightly to the right, most of them recovering quickly. Rowan's jeep soon followed suit.

* * *

Rowan swore, knuckles turning white as she turned the steering wheel, holding her breath as she saw the car in the next lane coming dangerously close.

Just what she needed, to slide into another car less than two hours after insisting to her aunt that _nothing was going to happen._

Suddenly, however, her car seemed to be on a slight incline, the passenger side of her car jerking upward.

"What's going on- Shit!" Rowan shrieked as her car slid in the opposite direction, now towards a car carefully making it's way through the left lane. She winced, waiting for the impact when suddenly her side of the car tilted upward, jerking away from the car she was about to hit and sliding back to the right where she had been earlier.

Again she found the passenger side of her car jerking up as she veered too close to the next lane. "What the hell is going on!?" she hissed, leaning forward to get a better look at the road directly in front of her. What she found only confused her further.

It appeared that barriers of ice were materializing out of nowhere on either side of her lane to keep her car in line. She was reminded of bowling when she was younger and making use of the lane bumpers to avoid gutter balls.

Rowan furrowed her brow at the sight, doing her best to steady her car in the midst of her bewilderment. She was not a science student in the least. In fact, the only reason she had gotten a decent grade in physics class while attending high school was because her boyfriend at the time had practically done her homework for her. She knew only the most basic of scientific concepts. She was an artist, a writer.

But she knew for a fact that sheets of ice didn't just materialize out of nowhere like that, in shapes crafted specifically to keep cars within their own lanes. It was too convenient. It worked out just too well. Nature didn't play games like that.

So what exactly had just happened?

The ice gradually thinned out now that Rowan and the other drivers had regained control of their vehicles, and soon enough her tires were gliding across a wet, slightly snow-covered road. The plows appeared to have done a decent job clearing most of it away in this section of the road, and everyone began to return to their usual speeds.

Watching the snow twirl into her windshield and be whipped away by the wipers, the girl briefly wondered if perhaps she was going insane. Maybe the incident with the ice hadn't, in fact, happened at all.

She had always been told she had an overactive imagination, after all. The only one that ever seemed to believe her claims when she was little was her notoriously superstitious grandmother who still regularly made sure her home was witch-proof. That and Uncle Avery, Aunt Lorelei's late husband. He always claimed that in his youth he had seen a yeti and almost caught the Tooth Fairy in a jar.

Everyone else would humor her, or claim she was simply imagining things or making up stories. That's not to say Rowan didn't make up stories often in her youth or have imaginary friends… but there were times that she had sworn she had seen things, and these things had been shrugged off as the results of an overactive imagination.

Maybe she _was_ crazy, maybe she had _been_ crazy. It wouldn't be too surprising, as many who pursued the arts were. The thought was still unsettling, however.

Finding that the snow was beginning to become hypnotic and tiring to watch, Rowan turned the music on her stereo up and hit the skip button until something a bit more up-tempo came on.

Nodding her head along to the music, Rowan began singing along, hoping to forget about the ice from earlier and what may or may not be her deteriorating mental state.

* * *

"Please tell me we're almost off the interstate," Jack said, lying on his stomach on the roof of the jeep with his arms crossed before him. The drive had mostly been uneventful, but there had been a good handful of times since he had arrived where he had managed to prevent her from colliding into another vehicle. He hated to think what might have happened had Jamie not asked him to keep an eye on Rowan.

The sun had begun to go down, which meant being on the roads wasn't going to get any safer. Jack sighed in relief when Rowan took the next exit, and pulled himself up into a seated position. After passing two traffic lights, they passed a group of large and impressive buildings, snow obscuring the sign proclaiming it some kind of university. Was that where Rowan went to school? Something about it didn't quite seem like an art school.

Rowan drove on, and just as the sky was claimed by night, she pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store. The hum of the jeep's engine, which he had become quite accustomed to in the past few hours, ceased and things seemed oddly quiet for a moment.

Rowan exited the car, pulling her coat tightly around her and fiddling with her keys until the vehicle was locked. As she walked toward the store, Jack glanced around the area, hoping to find something to occupy his time until she returned.

He smiled, finding a bus stop close by with a small family. A woman sat on the bench, clenching several grocery bags in her hands, while her two children stood nearby attempting to catch snowflakes on their tongues.

Jack flew over, gathering together some snow in his hands and lightly blowing on it before tossing it at the back of one their heads. The boy laughed and turned to see who had thrown the snowball before tugging on his sister's sleeve and pointing in Jack's direction.

"Sissy! Look!"

"It's Jack Frost!"

"He just threw a snowball at me!"

They glanced back at their mother, who was checking something on her phone, perhaps the bus schedule, before kneeling down to gather snow themselves. Very quickly, Jack found himself the main target in this very small snowball fight, able to dodge most of the blows but letting them get a few hits in.

The game didn't last long, however, before a whistle was heard, drawing attention to the woman with the groceries. The children whined, seeing the bus approaching from down the street and their mother standing before the bench, waiting for them to come back over to her.

They half-heartedly waved goodbye to Jack, who returned the gesture before watching as the bus stopped to allow them to climb on.

Turning back to where Rowan had been parked, he was surprised to find that she was already pulling out of the parking lot, having returned to her car while he had been engaged in the small snow-battle. Kicking off the ground, Jack glided back to Rowan's car and gently landed on the roof again.

As she was driving much slower, due to the snow and the fact that they were no longer on a major road, Jack decided to chance standing on the car once again, taking in the sights as they went. It seemed like a decent enough area, with a few sketchy neighborhoods here and there, like most places. At a red light, Jack took note of a group of small buildings with strange, snow-covered sculptures on the lawns and a sign that read: Pyle School for the Arts.

"There we go, that looks like an art school," Jack muttered as the light turned green and Rowan began driving again.

* * *

"Apartment, sweet apartment," Rowan mumbled to herself as she parked outside the three-story brick building, pleased to see that the lights inside were still on. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in the dark of a power outage all night.

She circled around to the back of her car, opening it up to retrieve her bags after making sure the single grocery bag she had obtained earlier was securely hanging at her elbow on her right arm. "Okay, now let's do this in one trip…"

It must have been comical to watch the girl pull on her backpack after fastening the duffle bag she had lugged her laundry in to the back of it and almost falling over in the process. After struggling to regain her balance, she pulled out another bag, this one filled with various toiletries, and slung it over one of her shoulders before sliding her obnoxiously pink lanyard over her neck and fumbling to close the back of her jeep.

"There, now to get inside without falling over," she said, locking the car and heading for the building slowly, the parking lot covered in snow. Many of the other vehicles were simply car-shaped masses of snow at this point, and it was clear that many people hadn't bothered trying to leave that day due to the snow.

How nice for them.

"Whoa!" Rowan said as she stumbled forward after underestimating the depth of some snow before her. She fell to her knees and groaned a bit under the weight of her bags. Why did she have to live up to the girly stereotype and over-pack her bags so much?

Slowly she brought herself back to her feet, taking a moment to steady herself before slowly continuing her pursuit for the front lobby of the apartment building. After reaching the doors, she attempted to scrape some of the snow off her boots at the welcome mat before entering. Her cold, red cheeks tingled at the heat inside and the girl at the front desk seemed to be trying not to laugh at Rowan as she struggled with her bags.

"Rowan?" the girl said.

"Yeah?" Rowan said, breathless.

"You, uh, got a package," the girl said, holding up a box roughly the size of a shoebox.

"Oh right," she said, remembering her aunt's earlier comment. She carefully approached the desk and signed the clipboard the girl handed out for her to sign. She took the package in her arm, checking to make sure she wasn't dropping anything.

"Do you, uh, need any help?" the girl asked, still trying not to laugh.

"I've got it. Thanks though," Rowan said, walking away from the desk.

Rowan hit the call button for the elevator and thankfully didn't have to wait long before the doors slid open and she stepped inside. She leaned her bags against the railing and pressed the number 3.

It was times like this that she was glad she didn't live at the other apartment complex she had looked at with nicer rooms but no elevator. There was a _ding!_ as Rowan reached her floor and the doors slid open again. "Okay, home stretch," she sighed, walking carefully with her bags to the end of the hall where her apartment waited. She unlocked the door as quickly as she could before stumbling inside and setting down her bags and package at last. She kicked off her snow-covered boots before carefully stepping further into the dark apartment. Feeling along the wall, she soon found the switch for the Christmas lights she had set up along the ceiling and one more switch lit up the small kitchen in the corner.

"Okay, bathroom," Rowan mumbled, hanging her coat and scarf on the hook on the wall and tossing gloves on the table before disappearing through the nearby door.

* * *

Jack had fully intended on leaving after making sure Rowan made it back into her apartment safely. That was all Jamie had asked him to do, after all. He had kept an eye on her while she dragged her bags inside and hovered by her window as she put some kind of frozen meal in the oven and unpacked some of her clothes.

The apartment was a cramped, one-room studio, and calling it "cluttered" was an understatement. The walls were covered in sketches, used tracing paper, finished drawings, and photographs. There was a bookshelf filled to capacity, and several books scattered around the apartment, an abused copy of the complete Grimm's fairy tales being a notable item on Rowan's bedside table.

Her bed had been hastily made before she had left for Thanksgiving, situated in the corner by the window with soft, thick blankets covering it. Off-white mosquito net hung over the bed in an attempt to separate it from the rest of the room.

In another corner was an easel with a half-finished still life on canvas, a box full of paint, a large container of brushes, and a paint-stained tarp. Taped all around this easel were several reference photos and color pallets.

Near the small couch where Rowan was now sitting and cutting the tape on her package was a tall, thin set of display shelves, covered in what might be some of the creepiest porcelain dolls Jack had ever seen. Each was dressed as a different literary figure, it seemed, and most in this collection seemed to be from tragedies of some kind. There was a Wicked Witch, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a Snow White, a Jay Gatsby, a Phantom of the Opera, an Ophelia and Hamlet, and others that were difficult to see from where Jack was at the window. Squinting, he swore he saw a Headless Horseman.

The actual Headless Horseman would be pleased to know how close the design was. Jack wondered if the legend that had laid claim Halloween had ever paid the designers of these dolls a visit.

Rowan opened her package to reveal another one of these dolls, which brought a vibrant smile to her face. Hastily she began removing the doll from its box and set it up on the provided doll stand. Taking her phone from her pocket, she took a picture of the doll and messed with the phone for a moment, seeming to send someone a message with the picture. She then set the doll on the shelves with the others, finally facing the window so Jack could see that it was a representation of Edgar Allan Poe, complete with a raven.

After admiring the doll for a moment, Rowan walked over to the table where she left the grocery bag from earlier and retrieved a box of hair dye from inside. As she retrieved her paint tarp and set it up in her bathroom in preparation of dying her hair, Jack's eyes wandered back to the table, back to the reason he hadn't left yet in the first place.

That damned composition book.

She had set it on the table in the midst of unpacking some of her things. It was beaten up and had several other pages stuffed inside of it. Various stickers and doodles covered the front and it was very clearly the notebook that Rowan had been writing in the previous night. The rest of the story she had been telling was inside that notebook.

Rowan pulled on an oversized shirt, splattered in paint and dye before pulling on some latex gloves and mixing the dye that she had taken out of the box. Jack's eyes darted from Rowan to the book and back. He had to take a look, but he couldn't just waltz in and take it. Even though he was as good as invisible to someone as old as Rowan, she'd notice the shift in temperature and her notebook moving on its own.

Rowan was adding what looked like purple dye from her medicine cabinet into the dye that had come in the box.

He could try to open the window, send a wind current to bring her notebook outside to him. Jack frowned. No, that was too elaborate. Considering the state of the notebook, Rowan would miss it when it was gone and likely chase after it.

Rowan began spreading burgundy dye, enhanced by the dye she had added, into her hair.

So what else could he do? His best bet was to wait for her to leave the room and sneak inside. But this was a one-room apartment. She was standing in the bathroom now to work with the dye but the door was open. Though, she'd have to rinse it out of her hair at some point.

Rowan piled her dye-soaked hair on top of her head, fastening it in place with a clip before removing her gloves and leaving the bathroom just in time for the oven to beep. Pulling on an oven mitt, she removed a pot pie from the oven and set it on the stove.

Jack watched as she gathered together her dinner and sat at the table, opening the notebook and beginning to scribble more notes inside it between bites. What was she writing? Was it more about the story she had told Jamie, or something else?

Some of the drawings on her wall were character designs. Elaborate costumes, turnarounds, portraits. What other stories had she come up with? What else was in that notebook?

The curiosity was killing Jack. It seemed like forever until she put her dishes away and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Jack waited a moment, and when Rowan didn't return, summoned the wind. Concentrating strong blasts of air where the lock on the window was, eventually it came unlocked. The wind calmed down and Jack pushed the window open, slipping inside.

Now in the apartment, he could hear the sound of the shower running past the bathroom door. He cautiously approached the table, watching the bathroom door as he went. After being sure that Rowan wasn't going to leave the bathroom any time soon, he propped his staff against the table and picked up the notebook.

After a moment of hesitation, turning the book in his hands a few times, he began to leaf through it.

The inside cover listed Rowan's name and several methods to contact her if the notebook were to be lost. The first few pages seemed to have some kind of poetry, with a number of lines scribbled out and various numbers taking note of the meter written in the margins. Along with these verses were doodles of a number of flowers, mostly roses.

As he continued flipping through the book he found outlines for various short stories, from children's books concepts to darker, more mature themes. There was a sketch of a bored looking girl with a bob cut and blunt bangs, labeled "Shirley in History of American Illustration" with the date it had been drawn.

"'Danny's Break-Up Letter, Draft One'," Jack read the label of the next page he landed on. He let out a whistle as he turned the page. "What is this, five pages? _Front and back?_ Hate to be Danny."

Flipping through the next few pages, he stopped when he found what he was looking for, a page labeled "Jack the Pirate notes." The first few pages weren't much more than what she had already told Jamie with some notes in the margins on things to expand upon and possibly cut out.

Another page listed possible physical traits for Jack, all of which were crossed out, with an arrow drawn indicating to flip to the next page, which he did. There was a sketch that didn't look much different than he had when he had been alive and living in Burgess, labeled "basic gist of how Jack looked in a dream I had last night."

Jack smirked and shook his head in amusement. "Good work, Sandy," he said, taking a moment to admire the sketch. It had obviously been done in hast, but it was still decent. If he weren't sure Rowan would notice, he would have torn it out and taken it with him.

There were a few more notes, all written in shorthand that Jack couldn't entirely make out. Something about the island's governor and Jack getting rid of his butler to get the position.

One of governor's maids eventually would play a larger role as well, and there were a few concepts of what she might look like.

But before Jack could read any further, the shower stopped running, and the sound of the shower curtain being pushed aside could be heard. Jack glanced back at the bathroom door at the noise before closing the notebook, setting it back where he'd found it, and grabbing his staff.

He quickly flew through the window and sent a strong gust of wind to force it shut behind him. Landing on the roof of the apartment building, he considered the notes that he had found. It sounded as though the story was going to become even more interesting, and there were still several pages in that notebook he hadn't seen.

"She has to go to school at some point," Jack muttered. And as long as she didn't take the notebook with her… well, he'd certainly have plenty of time to find out more about the story.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Rowan said, emerging from the bathroom, wrapped tightly in a towel, after hearing something slam closed. Many of her papers pinned to the wall shuffled slightly, as though settling after being disrupted by a gust of wind.

Rowan approached the window and rose a brow as she examined the lock. "I could have sworn I locked it before I left…" she mumbled, reaching forward to lock it again regardless.

Glancing around, it appeared that nothing in the apartment had been disturbed. She shivered a moment, wondering when it had gotten so cold considering that her heat had been on since shortly after she got back.

Maybe she _was_ going crazy.


	6. Star-Crossed

_"This is getting old, North. But I mean, thanks for not using the sack this time, I guess?"_

* * *

**Chapter Six: Star-Crossed**

* * *

Her eyes were large and peculiar, gradating from a dark blue, to a warm violet, and at last to a bright magenta. Long lashes framed these eyes, as well as sparkling eye shadows that mimicked the most beautiful corners of the night sky on the clearest nights.

Her skin was like milk, and appeared to have blue undertones in the light of the moon, which she soaked in with a small smile. She sat on a high branch of a tree in the middle of a quiet, snow-covered forest.

She had a long and slender, sort of boyish, figure, and not a single hair was present on her entire body, from head to toe. She looked almost otherworldly, alien.

Her clothes gave hints to her Earthly origins, consisting of shoes which resembled ballet slippers, tight leggings beneath a leotard with sleeves that came to her elbow, and an elaborate vest. The vest was lined with small ruffles, but what was perhaps the most fascinating part of the vest was the buttons, hand crafted into shapes representing each of the planets, with the two buttons near the top representing the sun and the moon.

The environment was nothing if not tranquil. It seemed as though she wouldn't prefer to be anywhere but where she was, watching the stars so intently.

Suddenly, however, the stars were not the same. The woman frowned, bringing herself silently to her feet on the branch she was resting on, scanning her eyes across the sky. Stars shifted in a way that was only noticeable to the most trained of eyes.

Her eyes widened as she analyzed the movements; she gasped softly. She braced herself for a moment, bending at the knees.

In the next instant, the woman shot across the sky like a shooting star.

She glided high into the atmosphere effortlessly, her arms flared behind her as she went, the long, ruffled section of fabric on the back of her vest fluttered behind her as she went. Curving sharply, she began her descent back to Earth, soon slowing down enough to land gracefully on a city street. She stood outside a nearly deserted coffee shop, a sign on the door boasting free wifi.

She approached the building, looking through the window and finding just who she was looking for.

Another woman stood behind a man who was typing madly at his laptop computer, her hands gently resting on his shoulders as she watched him work, her blue eyes alert and focused. She had thick, dark brown curls, which were pinned back and out of her face. Her voluptuous curves were draped in a dress adorned with black, iridescent feathers, fading out to what appeared to be black ink stains on a white underskirt.

The bald woman tapped lightly on the window to get the other woman's attention. She turned at the sound, recognized the first woman, and abandoned the man in order to meet her outside.

The man at the computer noticed none of this, and simply continued typing, his pace slowing but slightly.

"Urania," the brunette greeted as she exited the coffee shop.

"Calliope," Urania replied. "How did I know I'd find you at a coffee shop?"

"It's where the poets tend to reside nowadays," Calliope responded. "What do you need? I was in the middle of something."

Urania extended her hand for Calliope to take. "This is more important. It's the stars."

A look of worry briefly crossed Calliope's face before she took Urania's hand. The two of them shot through the air together until they landed atop a hill outside the city where they could better see the stars. Calliope took a moment to fix the pins in her hair, which had come loose as the wind whipped it about mid-flight.

Still adjusting her hair, she ran her eyes across the sky, furrowing her brow.

"I understand 'danger' but what does the rest mean?" she asked, concerned.

"There's not much more than that, there's a threat, a threat coming for _us, _and soon," Urania explained.

"But they don't say what it is?" Calliope said, focusing on the other woman rather than the sky now, her arms now crossed before her chest.

"No, nor what it intends to do," Urania said, shaking her head. "I came to you because you're our leader, Calliope, you were the first Muse. I figured that you would know what to do."

"There's not much that we _can_ do until we know what we're up against," Calliope said carefully. She paused a moment, mulling over the situation.

"I'll keep watching the stars, see if they'll tell me any more, maybe talk to Tsar Lunar," Urania suggested, visibly uncomfortable at Calliope's silence. Calliope nodded.

"Yes, yes, I want you to talk to the Man in the Moon, make sure the Guardians will still be on our side when this threat makes itself known. I also want you to see Nicholas and get _his _word of the continued alliance," the eldest muse said, straightening her pose and speaking with authority.

"Are you certain I should speak with North? I know he's sort of an unspoken second-in-command to Tsar Lunar, but Christmas is right around the corner, I'm sure he's very busy," Urania pointed out.

"Well, Toothiana and Sanderson are busy _every_ night, and Bunny is nervous around us. Unless you would like to try to have a serious conversation with Jack Frost, who, I still can't believe has earned the title of 'Guardian'," Calliope replied, hands placed gently on her hips.

"All right, all right, I'll talk to Tsar Lunar and then stop to see North," Urania said. "But what about the rest of _us_?"

"I'll track down the others and tell them to be alert and cautious until we learn more," said Calliope. "Now go, the sooner we solidify our alliance, the better."

Urania nodded, and without another word, shot off into the air once more.

* * *

The North Pole was loud and busy. Gifts were being sorted, resorted, unsorted, wrapped, re-wrapped, unwrapped and resorted only to be wrapped and sorted again. Bags of mail were being sorted through and filed away by several yetis, with new bags arriving and being carted around by the elves. There was a room in the far corner containing the master lists, naughty and nice, which had only just begun to be checked the second time around. Not a single soul was standing still, including North, currently fiddling with a conveyer belt that was used when boxing and wrapping the gifts.

"Ha ha ha! There, is fixed," North said, watching as the conveyer belt began to move again. A group of yetis immediately began setting toys and boxes on top of it, wasting no time.

"North!" came a familiar voice from the main platform by the globe. The old man raised his eyebrows in confusion at the call, walking over to find the over-grown rabbit that had sent it.

"Bunny! What brings you here?" North asked. The Australian looked less than amused as he held up an elf by his hat, coated in several different colors of egg dye.

"One of your elves," Bunny said, dropping the elf, who landed less than gracefully on the floor, "Got hold of one of your snow globes and was causing trouble at the Warren. _Again._"

North sighed, glaring down at the elf in question, "Go! Get cleaned up and help others at the stables, Christmas is less than a month away, what are you thinking?"

The elf smiled innocently up at North before rushing off to an unknown location where he would presumably wash off the Easter egg dye.

"My apologies, Bunny," North said, returning his attention to the rabbit.

"You gotta lock those snow globes up, mate. Or put them on higher shelves," Bunny said, taking a moment to scratch behind his ears.

"I will make note of it, something to do _after_ Christmas," North replied, stepping aside as a few elves ran by, chasing a rouge remote control airplane. "I did not expect to see _two_ Guardians today with my busy schedule."

"Two of us?" Bunny asked.

"I'm having the Yetis bring Jack in soon. We must talk," North said, appearing somewhat annoyed at the idea, which surprised Bunny.

"Ooh, is he in trouble? I might have to stick around for this," Bunny said, leaning against the nearby wall as he grinned.

North rubbed his temples with a bit of a groan. "He has broken into young girl's apartment, evidentially I must _explain_ to him this is _unacceptable."_

"How young are we talking about?"

"Nineteen."

Bunny couldn't help but laugh. "Well! The kid's stuck as a teenager forever, that's not really _too_ surprising."

"Surprising or not, Jack and I must have a talk," North said, seemingly much less amused than Bunny was at the situation.

A yeti approached North and began babbling in their odd language, gesturing for the staircase off to the side.

_"Another_ visitor? What is going on today? Show her in," North ordered, turning and watching as the Yeti rushed off to get their guest.

Urania walked in behind several yetis, her eyes wandering about the workshop as the others worked diligently to prepare all the gifts. North placed his hands on his hips, eying the Muse as she approached.

"Urania! What brings you here? I am very busy, Christmas is a few weeks away."

"I know it is, North. I wouldn't come here now if it weren't important, I trust you know that," said Urania as the Yetis stepped aside for her to approach North and speak to him directly. She glanced at Bunnymund in the corner, "Hello, Bunny."

"Urania," Bunny greeted with a short nod, though not bothering to move from his place near the wall.

"What is it that is so important, then?" North asked, signing a clipboard that yet another yeti brought over.

"The stars have spoken to me," said the Muse, "A great danger will face the Muses soon. What it is, I am not yet sure. I have already spoken to Tsar Lunar and he has assured me of the Guardians continued alliance. However, Calliope would also like your word, North."

"'Continued Alliance'?" repeated Bunny before North could open his mouth to respond. He seemed slightly outraged at the term. "Where were you when Pitch was trying to wipe us all out?"

"You must understand, Bunnymund," Urania said, "As Toothiana is one of our dearest companions, we wanted to help as soon as her teeth and fairies were stolen from her. But The Man in the Moon forbid it."

"Why?" Bunny demanded.

"Tsar Lunar believed that the situation with Pitch had to be sorted out without our help. It had to unfold the way it did, with you all first growing weaker to grow stronger by the end," Urania explained. "This situation, it's different."

She turned back to North and continued, "This may not be something we can handle on our own."

"Urania," North addressed with a warm smile. "Just as the moon cannot shine without the sun, the Guardians cannot thrive without the Muses. It is you who help make possible the bedtime stories, picture books, tv specials, and films that help keep children believing."

Urania smiled softly at this sentiment, humbled.

"The Guardians will always help the Muses, you have my word," North said, taking Urania's slender, soft hand in his large, calloused one and giving it a firm shake.

"Thank you," Urania said.

"Now, my Yetis should be back with Jack in a moment, you are welcome to stay longer if you wish, but I must deal with him."

"What's going on with Jack?" Urania asked.

"He's in trouble," Bunny said, seemingly giddy at the thought, clearly in better spirits than he was a moment ago. "You should stick around for the lecture, it should be fun."

"Tempting as that may be," Urania said, "Unlike the majority of my 'sisters,' I have few qualms with Jack Frost."

"He and I are almost friends now and I _still_ want to see this," Bunny said with a chuckle. Urania took a seat on the railing surrounding the globe, amused.

Within the next instant, a magic portal opened up and a confused looking Jack Frost came stumbling forward, as if thrown, from within the portal. He was followed shortly by two yetis, who landed far more gracefully than Jack had.

"This is getting old, North," Jack said, pulling himself to his feet. "But I mean, thanks for not using the sack this time, I guess?"

"Is only because the sacks are being cleaned," North said, clearly unamused. Jack sighed, propping his staff against his shoulder and looking around. The pole was far more active than it had been when he had first visited so many months ago.

"Hey Bunny," Jack said, spying the Easter spirit in the corner. "Is this another meeting?"

Bunny laughed a bit, shaking his head. "Not quite."

Jack furrowed his brow in confusion, turning to find Urania, someone he hadn't seen for a while, sitting on the nearby railing.

"This must be important if you're here," he said.

"Hello to you, too, Jack," Urania replied. "Unfortunately, I have nothing to do with your lecture."

"Lecture?" Jack said, turning his attention back to North, who still looked annoyed about something. "Is this about the elves? I know they were banged up when I returned them, but-"

"Is not about the elves," North said.

"Is it about the Easter Egg Grenades, is that why Bunny's here?"

"I'm here because one of North's elves got into the Warren and was assaulting my dyes. _Again_. But I'm more than happy to join in on the lecture. What was it you were saying about my grenades?" Bunny said, narrowing his eyes at the winter spirit.

"Nothing, hypotheticals and all that," Jack said quickly, waving off the question with his hand.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Jack," North finally said, pointing at Jack with his large hands as if to clarify that it was the younger Guardian he was speaking to.

"Before I dig myself into a deeper hole I'm going to ask what I did," Jack replied, seemingly unfazed by this comment.

"For years you have been on naughty list for tricks and pranks, but now, now you are breaking law, Jack!"

"Wait, what?" said a very confused Jack.

"Does breaking into Rowan Sawyer's apartment and going through her things ring bells?" North asked.

"Become a Peeping Tom, have we?" Bunny interjected, clearly very much amused at the idea. "Honestly surprised it took you this long, Mate. You've been eighteen for, what, three hundred years?"

"Being teenager is no excuse," North said immediately.

"Whoa, _whoa!_ I have not been doing _that_," Jack said, before stopping short and seeming to consider something.

Why on earth hadn't that crossed his mind before?

"Oh no, now you're going to start, aren't you?" Bunny said, his face dropping.

"I didn't say anything," Jack said with a shrug.

"If you are not spying on young lady, then what are you doing in her apartment?" North demanded.

"I was just," Jack said, pausing, suddenly feeling a bit silly about the whole thing now that he'd been caught and had to explain it. "Going through her drawings, her stories. She has a lot of really great ones."

He took a moment to straighten his stance, somewhat smug. "Even started one about a boy named Jack and his misadventures."

"All right, Peter Pan," Bunny said. "You still can't go breaking into homes like that."

"Why not?" Jack said, propping his staff on the floor and leaning against it as he spoke. "North does it every year on Christmas Eve."

"Is not the same thing!" North said immediately, insulted.

"How?" Jack asked.

"Children are expecting me, they make preparations so I may come in an out easily. I enter houses to leave gifts, you enter apartment to go through pretty young lady's things."

"You guys keep talking like I'm shuffling through her underwear drawer or something," Jack said, prompting North to blush and Bunny to shift uncomfortably. Urania could be heard chuckling at their reactions from her place at the railing.

"Look, Jack, regardless of what you were doing, it's not appropriate for you to be breaking into her apartment just because she can't see you," Bunny finally said.

"There are certain boundaries that should not be crossed," North added. "Should be setting good example for the children of the world. After all, their continued belief in you is what your powers rely on now."

Jack nodded, glancing away as he rolled his eyes, very much annoyed.

"Do not roll eyes at me, Jack," North said.

Hoping to change the subject, Jack said, "So, what's Urania doing here, then?"

"According to the stars," Urania said, "The Muses are in danger. I'm here to make sure the alliance between the Guardians and the Muses is still in place and strong."

"Alliance? Wait, then where were you guys around Easter?" Jack asked.

"That's what I asked," Bunny said.

"As I've explained to Bunnymund," Urania said, casting a slightly annoyed glance toward the Guardian in question, "We were instructed by the Man in the Moon not to interfere with the conflict between the Guardians and Pitch Black."

"Does Manny seriously talk to everyone _except_ me?" Jack said. "In three hundred years he's spoken to me _twice_."

"He's not a man of many words," Urania said, hoping to ease Jack's mind a bit.

"What is it that's putting you guys in danger, then? Book stores going out of business?" Jack asked, beginning to twirl his staff about in his hand like a baton.

"They don't know yet," North said.

"So how are we supposed to help when you don't even know what's putting you in danger?" Jack asked.

"For now," Urania said, "We wait. We keep aware and cautious. The threat will make itself known soon enough."

"Simple enough plan," Jack said. "Are you sure that the other Muses want _my_ help, though? Most of them don't really, well, _like_ me. And I'm not sure what I did."

"Well, you're not very charming," Bunny pointed out. Jack glared at the rabbit, who simply smiled and shrugged.

"Well, Melpomene-" Urania started.

"I now why _she_ doesn't like me," Jack mumbled, trying to shake the image of that Muse in particular from his mind.

"I was going to say she doesn't really like _anyone_ who, well, _smiles,"_ Urania said. "As far as the rest of them, go, well, while the Guardians follow the moon, we follow the sun. Truthfully, I think they don't like you much because during the winter, the sun is out less."

"That is _not my fault,"_ Jack said defensively. "That is _all_ Mother Nature, they can direct their complaints to her."

"I'll keep that in mind," Urania said, standing up from her place on the railing. "I should be going, though, see if there are any more clues in sky."

"Good luck, Urania, keep us posted," North said.

"I certainly will. I hope you all have a pleasant rest of your day," Urania said before turning her heal and walking with the yetis that had escorted her inside.

"I'd better be off too, let you get back to your preparations," Bunny said, tapping the floor twice with his foot and disappearing into the tunnel that appeared.

North turned to where Jack had been standing, about to say something else to the boy but found that he was no longer there. North scratched his head in confusion, glancing around the area and finding no trace of him.

"Jack Frost, you are quite a handful," he muttered before returning to his work.


	7. Bed of Roses

A/N: **seldomselcouth**, thank you for your kind words! I'm always a bit worried that my snark isn't snarky enough or my jokes aren't funny enough. I appreciate all the comments I get, so once more, thanks again.

* * *

_"We're not telling you these things to ruin your fun or antagonize you. We're not against you, you're not all alone anymore! You don't have to be so defensive and ridiculous, all of the boundaries are for your own good!"_

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Bed of Roses**

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Bunny asked as Jack settled himself atop one of his large egg sculptures.

"I went after you through the tunnel," Jack said with a shrug as the buck made his way over to a basket he'd abandoned earlier to go to North's workshop. Jack smiled softly, finding that Bunny was in the middle of tending to the plants in his warren, the basket full of small flowers waiting to be planted.

"Okay, but _why?_ I know Easter's a few months away but I'm _busy,"_ Bunny said, carefully placing one of the small sprouts into the ground.

"It seemed like the quickest way to get out of there, didn't realize I'd be interrupting your gardening," Jack said with a small laugh.

"What's wrong with gardening?" Bunny replied, narrowing his eyes at Jack as though daring him to say something against his hobby.

"Nothing, nothing," Jack said, his smile tight-lipped to keep from laughing again. "I just figured all the plants here just kind of, you know, _happened_. Never pictured _you_ planting them all."

"Hmph," was Bunny's only reply as he continued to focus on his flowers, carefully arranging them in the area he had designated for them.

"Is North like that a lot?" Jack asked suddenly.

"Like what?"

"Acting like he's my father or something, I half expected him to ground me," Jack said, leaving his space from on top of the egg sculpture and hovering low to the ground, examining the existing plants as he went.

"Maybe," Bunny said, gently patting the soil before him, "If you didn't act like a child, he wouldn't treat you like one."

_"How_ am I acting like a child?" Jack asked, stopping to examine a rose bush, featuring purple roses whose petals faded out to blue toward the ends. He recalled the sketches of roses that had been in Rowan's notebook.

"Breaking into someone's apartment because of a _story?_ That's only a little better than someone having triple-dog dared you to do it," Bunny said.

"I didn't steal anything, I didn't break anything, she doesn't even know I was ever there," Jack said. He turned back to Bunny and gestured back to the rose bush. "What do you want for some of those?"

"What for?" Bunny asked.

"Well, _apparently_ it's okay to break into someone's home if you leave gifts," Jack said.

"So you want to leave her some of _my_ roses."

"They're pretty," Jack said simply. "And she had drawn some in her notebook I looked through."

"How'd you even find this girl anyway?" Bunny asked, completely ignoring his sprouts now and watching Jack in confusion.

"She's Jamie's cousin, he asked me to make sure she drove home safe. The other night he had me listen in while she told him a bedtime story. I wanted to know what happened next since she never actually _finished_ telling the story," Jack explained. "So, can I have the roses or not?"

"If I say no, you're just going to come back and take them, aren't you? I have to trim this anyway, you can't just pick them all willy-nilly," Bunny said, taking a pair of pruners from his basket and approaching Jack and the rose bush.

"I'm surprised you're going along with this," Jack said.

"I'm not condoning you breaking into whatsername's apartment," Bunny said at once, trimming the roses with expertise. "But there's no reason she shouldn't get something nice to make up for it."

"Think this'll get North off my back about it?"

"Nope," Bunny said, taking the roses back to his basket, where he fumbled around a moment until he found a ribbon to bundle them together with. Jack almost made a comment about Bunny having ribbon on hand in his basket but decided against it. "And Jack, there's something you should know."

"What's that?" he said.

Bunny met Jack's eyes and spoke in an entirely serious manner, which was sort of comical when one stopped to remember that he was a giant rabbit holding a bouquet of roses. "Courting a mortal is a terrible idea. It's never _not_ a terrible idea."

"What?" Jack said, surprised at both the statement and the fact that Bunny was still using words like _courting_. It was the twenty-first century, after all. "I'm not '_courting'_ her, the roses are a completely platonic thing."

Bunny raised his brow skeptically in response.

"Why would I try to get a girl that can't even see me?" Jack said.

"I'm just saying, mate, nothing good comes out of it. In fact, you really shouldn't even be spending so much time with Jamie Bennett," Bunny said, handing Jack the finished bouquet. Jack swore under his breath as he snagged his hand on one of the thorns, accidentally icing the roses in the process.

"Jamie-" Jack started, examining the finger that had been pricked by the thorns.

"Is a great kid, he really is, but that's just it," Bunny said, shaking his head slightly as he watched the edges of the roses freeze. "He's a mortal, he's going to grow up, he's going to die one day, Jack. So is his cousin, so is every other mortal that you pal around with."

"You think I don't know that?" Jack said. It was something he didn't like to think about much, the fact that the first person to ever see him was going to die one day.

"I _think_ you try to forget about it, but there's only so long you can do that. It's for your own good that you don't get attached, Jack," Bunny said. "Ask North, if you don't want to take my word for it."

"I've spent the past three hundred years just watching, Bunny," Jack said. "I don't want to forget what it's like to hang out with kids, I don't want to hide away like the rest of you. It works for you guys, that's great, but it's just not how I operate."

"Talk to North, seriously," Bunny said. "And don't get attached to this girl."

"North may like to _act_ like he's my father, but at the end of the day I made it centuries without any of you there to tell me what to do," said Jack defensively.

"We're not telling you these things to ruin your fun or antagonize you," Bunny explained, eyes narrowing and patience growing thin. "We're not against you, you're not all alone anymore! You don't have to be so defensive and ridiculous, all of the boundaries are for your own good!"

"Look, I appreciate that you guys are around, I do, but I'm not your responsibility and I can run my own life," Jack replied. "I may not have as many centuries under my belt as the rest of you but I'm not naïve. I don't need someone to hold my hand and tell me who to be friends with. Not that Rowan and I are friends _anyway_. I'm not going to get attached to her, and I have no intentions to try to win her affections or something. I'm only around for the stories, it's that simple."

"Human relations are never that simple," Bunny pointed out.

"Well, good thing I'm not human then. I'll see you around, Cottontail, thanks for the weeds," Jack said, flying off in the direction of the tunnel leading to North America.

* * *

"It wouldn't start at all, huh? Guessing you guys need a ride, then?" Rowan said, her cell phone wedged between her ear and shoulder as she buttoned her dark navy pea coat.

"Okay, well I haven't even been outside yet so we're definitely gonna be late, I still have to dig _my_ car out of the snow and everything," she said, grabbing her now nearly finished painting from the easel with one hand and her tool box of paints with the other. "Yeah, send him an email, how much is he gonna really penalize us, right? I'll be surprised if half the class even shows up within the first _hour_ of class with all the snow. Oh! _Don't forget the flash drive_ so we can work on the history presentation at lunch."

Rowan carefully slipped her canvas from one hand to the other before opening the front door of her apartment. "Right? Mondays aren't even _trying_ anymore… Okay, I'll see you in a few, bye," Rowan said, taking her phone from her shoulder in order to end the call, stopping short before she stepped into the hallway.

Lying on the floor before her was a bouquet of roses, violet in color, fading out to blue. They were covered in a sparkling layer of frost.

Setting down her paint box and canvas, Rowan glanced down the hall to see if anyone else was around that might have left the flowers. Finding that she was alone, she kneeled down and carefully took the bouquet in her hands, examining it for a tag of any kind. She found none.

"How peculiar," Rowan whispered, bringing the flowers inside and pulling a tall glass out of the cabinet to use as a vase. She filled the glass before setting the roses carefully inside, careful to keep the ribbon binding them together from getting wet.

Who could have possibly sent them? She had never received flowers from someone who wasn't her own father trying to cheer her up on a lonely Valentine's Day. She'd never received roses, despite them being her favorite, and these roses served only to confuse her. It was not their presence alone that did it, but rather the coloring. She was almost certain that roses this color did not exist in nature, and yet, here they were.

After taking a quick snapshot with her phone, she returned to her things by the door, picking them up once more before leaving the apartment.

She would have time to ponder the flowers and where they came from when she wasn't running late.

* * *

"Maybe Danny sent them," said the very tall, slim girl setting up her painting at the easel beside Rowan's. Rowan made a face as she re-arranged her paint, brushes, and water, her canvas already settled on the easel.

"I don't think so," Rowan said. The other girl plopped down in the nearby chair and rummaged through a box of brushes.

"Nicolette was saying he's been particularly annoying ever since you dumped him," the other girl pointed out, tucking some of her short black hair behind her ear.

Rowan groaned a little. "I'm so glad he doesn't go to school here, I can't imagine having classes with him after that."

"Maybe the roses are an attempt to win you back."

"I don't think so," Rowan said, taking a very small brush from her box. "Why would he wait so long to leave me the roses? And not even leave a note or stick around to make sure I _knew_ he was the one that left them?"

"True, he'd make sure he was there so you knew _just_ who to thank," the other girl said, ignoring her painting for now.

"Pretty much. Did you bring any masking tape? I forgot mine."

The other girl dug through her bag and soon produced a roll of bright white tape, with the name "Shirley Houben" scribbled on the side in permanent marker.

"Thank you," Rowan said, taking the roll from Shirley and beginning to tape her reference photos onto the side of the easel and beside her actual still life.

"No problem, I'm going to steal some of your black paint in a minute here," Shirley said with a bit of a shrug, leaning back in her seat. _"Maybe_ the flowers are an early birthday gift. Which, by the way, Adam and I are taking you out for dinner, no arguments."

"No arguments," Rowan repeated with a small laugh, handing Shirley her tape back. "Maybe they are, but still, who could have left them?"

"Secret admirer?"

"Without a sappy love note? How disappointing."

"Maybe," Shirley said, stroking an imaginary beard as she pondered. Rowan dipped her small brush into her paint to begin working. She had only fine details left to complete on her piece. "Someone did something to piss you off and those are sad apology flowers."

"I can't think of anyone who has both pissed me off and would do that," Rowan said.

"Shirley, Rowan," said an older man in a paint-stained dress shirt and jeans as he walked up behind the two. "It's the last class to work on these. Less talking, more painting."

"Yeah, Rowan, stop talking so much, jeez," Shirley said sarcastically, turning back to her easel.

"Yeah, okay, of the two of us, who _always_ makes their deadlines and who _mostly_ makes their deadlines, Shirley dear?"

"I'm no longer talking to you, you're a bad influence," Shirley said simply. Their professor rolled his eyes at the pair, walking away after a short moment. At least the girls were _painting_ in addition to their back and forth now.

* * *

Jack sat atop one of the small buildings on the small campus, watching as students shuffled here and there with various projects in hand. Class being in session, however, didn't stop many students from venturing outside to construct snow sculptures. Some professors even stopped to join them.

There were a few generic snowmen, adorned in thrift store glasses and mustaches made of stiff and broken brushes. Also present on the grounds, however, was a cat wearing a bowtie and monocle, a reclining nude woman, a gaming console, and several representations of genitalia, all crafted lovingly in the snow.

"Why don't I hang out at art schools more often?" Jack said with a laugh as he took in the sights. Rowan and another girl soon emerged from the nearby building, chattering away as they wandered in the direction of the largest building on campus (which still was not so large). They took their time, stopping to examine many of the sculptures along the way.

Jack furrowed his brow as Rowan leaned in and whispered something to the other girl. The other girl glanced toward the building Jack sat upon, confused, before shaking her head and mumbling something back to Rowan. Rowan whispered some more before the other girl took Rowan's head in her hands.

"Finals are messing with your head!" she said loudly, laughing as Rowan sighed, seeming frustrated. The girl linked arms with her as they began walking again. "Let's just go get coffee, everything will make sense again, I promise."

Jack pulled himself to his feet as the girls passed. He remembered watching Rowan work diligently on several projects over the weekend. He had been waiting for opportunities to flip through her notebook again, and had gotten few while she worked. He wasn't entirely surprised that she seemed to be stressing herself out.

Now, though, Jack took note that Rowan was stressing herself out _on campus._ Not in her apartment, as she had done the entire weekend. He smiled to himself as she and the other girl finally entered the large building in the distance. Perhaps it was time to take a trip to Rowan's apartment.

Maybe she had left her notebook behind as he had hoped.


	8. A Strange Beginning

A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you guys for the super thoughtful reviews! I really enjoyed reading what you had to say, **soaringphoenix86**, **seldomselcouth**, and **musichick**. Thanks especially to **musichick** who went back and reviewed all of my chapters, that was so nice, I hope you got my PM responding to them all.

I went back and edited this chapter several times and I hope it's up to par, I look forward to hearing more from everyone!

* * *

_Jack quickly took another step back and weakly said, "You know, uh, I'm not sure if that'll even work on me or not."_

_"Let's find out together."_

* * *

**Chapter Eight: A Strange Beginning**

* * *

"_Jack was utterly cornered as the maid listed off every terrible thing that he had done, a fire in her eyes as she accused him, the pair still cramped in the hall closet and speaking in whispers,"_ Jack read aloud, leaning back in one of Rowan's dining room chairs, her battered notebook in his lap. "_ 'Just how stupid do you think I am?' she demanded at last, her immaculate hair falling from place. 'Did you truly think you could just take a position here, in the house I essentially run, and rob this family without me finding out? You must think you're so clever.' Jack opened his mouth to respond but Miss Gates' gaze warned him against it."_

Jack turned the page, finding that the passage he'd been reading had come to an abrupt end, and he had once again stumbled upon nothing but notes and shorthand. He sighed, letting the front legs of the chair hit the ground as he set the notebook back on the table. Miss Gates, the maid, was proving to be a fascinating character with lots of spunk. He wanted nothing more than to know what she and the character, Jack, were going to do next.

He stuffed his hands in his front pocket, glancing around the apartment he knew very well by now. He wished he could say that it was the first time he had slipped in since that night he had followed Rowan home. The truth was that he had managed his way inside several times as the school week progressed, though he usually didn't stay long. However, today was the first day that Rowan had left her notebook behind, the first time he'd gotten to read her new ideas since his initial break-in.

Standing up at last, Jack wandered over to the kitchen counter where the roses he'd left her a few days earlier still sat. They were still in the same state as when he'd left them: still the same vibrant colors, still in bloom, and most importantly, still covered in a layer of frost that had failed to melt yet. He'd seen Rowan take a picture of the roses every morning before she left for class.

She seemed to have liked the roses, and Jack had wasted little time using them as a means to justify further break-ins. Lightly touching one of the petals, Jack began to wonder just how long it would be before North would drag him back to the North Pole for another lecture. Half the reason he kept coming back was to prove a point that North and Bunny _couldn't_ keep telling him what to do.

When Rowan had taken her notebook with her the past few days, he had lingered for only short periods, browsing through her books and the drawings pinned to her wall. As long as he was in the apartment, even briefly, he was proving North's lack of control.

It was dark outside, and Jack had closed Rowan's window earlier when he realized that leaving it open caused the heat to work overtime. The heat was already kicking into higher gears from him simply being in the apartment, he dared not make the apartment even more uncomfortably warm.

He sighed, watching the snow outside hit the window. Rowan would likely be home soon, which meant he should probably leave. The cool temperatures he caused would do nothing but confuse her and he was sure he'd managed to do enough of that in the past few days with each time he had the wind open and close her window. Not to mention the still-frozen roses.

As though on cue, the sound of a key sliding into the lock on the front door filled the apartment. Jack turned, startled at the sound, having never been in the apartment when Rowan returned home before. He had been certain he still had more time before she arrived.

He slowly crept back toward the window, eyes fixed on the door as it began to open. He would have to wait for, or create, some kind of distraction so that he could get the window open again and leave, he decided.

He turned his attention to the window, stepping atop the bookcase directly below it as the door swung the rest of the way open.

"Hey!"

Jack froze in place, turning quickly to find Rowan pulling something from her backpack and hastily pointing it directly at him. A crackling, electronic sound emitted from the device as a string of electricity danced at the end.

However, this was not what had Jack's attention at that moment, but rather, the fact that Rowan's wide, scared eyes were staring directly into his.

"What are you doing here!?" she demanded after Jack failed to react, the taser still aimed directly at him.

"You can see me?" Jack said softly, watching her in confusion. No human over the age of _twelve_ had ever acknowledged him. It simply didn't make any sense for her to be looking and speaking directly to him. He couldn't help but hover a few inches above the shelves he stood on and approach her slowly in curiosity.

This only caused Rowan to jump in surprise and take several steps back, nearly dropping the taser as she went. Her eyes darted between his face and his feet, which were very clearly not touching the ground.

"… Look, I don't want to harm you, Ghost," Rowan said quickly, shutting off the taser and clumsily setting it on the counter behind her. She rose shaking hands in front of her to display that she was now very much unarmed. "I just want to peacefully coexist without any curses or hauntings, or-"

"Ghost?" Jack repeated, cutting her off. He was still very much confused about pretty much everything that had happened since she entered the apartment. The shock and fear she displayed confused him the most, as whenever a _child_ saw him, they were usually pleased, excited.

He wasn't sure how to react to someone who was afraid of him.

"Is 'ghost' not politically correct?" she said quickly, still visibly shaken by his presence. He lowered himself to the ground, hoping it would calm her nerves a bit. "Would you prefer 'Spirit?' 'Apparition-American,' maybe?"

"Calm down, calm down," Jack said, reaching a hand out to her, which she quickly backed away from until she was up against the counter. He set his hand back down. He wasn't sure what his next move should be, all he knew was that he wanted her to calm down and realize he wasn't a threat. "I'm not a ghost."

"You're not?" Rowan said. For a moment she seemed conflicted over this information but quickly picked up the taser again, pointing it at Jack as she had earlier. Jack put his own hands up as she had done moments before, dropping his staff to the ground in the process. He suddenly regretted telling her he was not a ghost. It was supposed to make her less fearful, not prompt her to pick up her weapon again. "Well then what _are you?_ Because... because I keep seeing you _everywhere_ but when I point you out to anyone else they never _see_ you. 'Oh, Rowan, finals are getting to you.' 'Rowan, are you getting enough sleep?' I thought they were messing with me at first but obviously they're not."

"Hey there's no need for the taser," Jack said. "They can't see me because they don't believe. Honestly I'm surprised that you can see me, no one your age has _ever_ seen me."

"They 'don't believe'?" Rowan repeated, not lowering her taser. "What do you mean? Don't believe in _what?_ Why are you in my apartment and why do I keep seeing you everywhere?"

"One question at a time, huh?" Jack said, lowering his hands to his sides, eyes still fixed on hers. "To see me, you have to believe in _me_. You have to believe in the Guardians."

"The Guardians? So, what, are you some kind of angel or something?" she asked. Despite the tense situation, Jack couldn't help but laugh at the implication, which served only to puzzle Rowan more, her brows furrowing.

"I'm gonna have to tell Bunny that one later. No, I'm not an angel," Jack said, still chuckling slightly.

"Well then what the hell is a Guardian?" Rowan demanded, seeming to lose patience as this conversation continued and Jack felt the need to laugh at her angel comment.

"The legends from childhood. We, well, _guard_ childhood and protect children. Hence, Guardians," Jack explained.

"Legends from childhood? What, like Santa Claus?" the girl asked, skepticism clear on her face.

"Yep," Jack said, glancing briefly at his staff. He wanted to pick it up off the ground, but didn't want to spook Rowan in the process. He felt like she likely wouldn't do anything with her weapon but didn't want to give her any more reason to think she needed it.

As soon as she calmed down he'd figure out what to do about the fact that she could see him. It wasn't like when Jamie finally saw him; everything was on edge now.

"And the 'Bunny' you just mentioned… the Easter Bunny?" she clarified.

"Exactly."

"And that makes you…?"

"Jack Frost."

Rowan lowered her hand with the taser at last, nodding slowly and beginning to turn away from Jack as she raised her other hand to her forehead. She leaned back against the counter once more.

"Jack Frost… I've gone completely bonkers," she mumbled.

"No, no, you haven't," Jack said, hoping to reassure her. Granted, this was the first conversation he'd had with the girl, for all he knew, she _was_ completely insane. She was pursuing the arts, after all.

For the time being, however, Jack decided to operate under the assumption that she was _not_ insane. Just understandably baffled.

"I feel like that's just what a hallucination would say," Rowan said, starting to look a bit pale as the conversation continued, her eyes fixed on the floor directly in front of her.

"What makes you think I'm a hallucination?"

_"Jack Frost_ is in my apartment, after I've seen him lurking around since I was in Burgess-"

_"That_ long?" Stealth clearly was not Jack's strong suit. Not that he had been trying to hide; as far as he was concerned, up until a few minutes ago at least, Rowan couldn't see him.

"-and no one else I've pointed him out to has seen him. And now, now he's telling me that he's best friends forever with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. _How is this not a hallucination?_ Next thing I know, you'll be telling me you play poker with the Sandman."

"Bunnymund and I are barely getting into 'friends' territory. North… well, he and I go back and forth, definitely not shopping for friendship bracelets right now. And I don't even know if Sandy _plays_ poker," Jack said, as if his relationship with the other Guardians was the most problematic part of Rowan's statement.

"And let me guess, you're dating the Tooth Fairy?" she said, pulling her gaze up from the floor and meeting his yet again.

Jack could feel himself blush slightly at the implication (which he was surprised he was still able to do, when was the last time he had been embarrassed enough to actually _blush?)_. "Tooth? Nah, I think she has a crush on my teeth but that's about it."

Rowan rubbed her temples with her free hand for a moment. "I've gone insane. This is insanity."

"Hey, hey!" Jack said, leaning down and picking up his staff at last. He approached Rowan slowly. She could _see_ him, which meant she believed in him. The last thing he wanted was for her to talk herself out of believing. "I'm _not_ a hallucination… and I'll prove it."

Rowan lowered her hand from her face and looked up just in time for snow to begin to fall inside the small apartment, dancing gracefully in a downward spiral before her face. With a chill, a few snowflakes landed on her cheeks and nose.

"This could be a really elaborate hallucination," she mumbled.

"But you feel the cold, right?" Jack said, standing no more than two feet away from her now.

"Right," she mumbled, meeting his eyes again. "So, my friends can't see you because they don't believe in you, right?"

"Right."

"Well I don't think I ever sat down and thought to myself, 'Yes, Jack Frost, he _definitely_ exists."

"Hey I'm just as confused as you are," Jack assured her, offering her a smile in the hopes that she might see that he was being sincere. At least her weapon was down and she seemed less fearful now. As long as things continued like this, Jack could figure out what to do about this new believer. "Like I said earlier, I've never met someone your age who can see me. But, you're related to Jamie and-"

"How do you know Jamie?" she asked suspiciously, her stance straightening as she re-adjusted her grip on the taser in her hand. At this point, Jack made the snow stop falling.

"He was my first believer, we're friends," Jack explained. "Where do you think he came up with the name for the character in your story?"

"What does me being related to him have to do with me being able to see you?"

"Well, if you wouldn't _interrupt_ me. Jamie believes harder than any kid I've met. Maybe it's the same for you," he said.

"I'll interrupt you all I want, this is _my_ apartment, and you have yet to actually explain why you're here, Mr. Frost," Rowan said, crossing her arms and raising her brow expectantly.

"Right, that," Jack said. Well, this was awkward. She was never supposed to _see_ him; she was never supposed to know that he was ever there. No harm, no foul.

But now she knew. She knew he'd been lurking around (she'd seen him since _Burgess_ for crying out loud) and she knew he'd broken in at least this time.

And what was worse? Jack actually felt sort of guilty about it. He made a mental note to never admit that to North.

"Well?" she demanded when he remained quiet too long for her liking.

"Okay, so back when you were visiting Jamie, he asked me to come listen in on the story you were telling him because he insisted your stories were _the best_. I was skeptical, of course, but I went anyway, and truth be told, I've been curious about the story ever since. So, I've been sneaking in here to find out more about it. I'm sorry," Jack said quickly, deciding that telling the truth, and hastily, was likely his best option right now.

"This isn't the first time you've been in here!?" she nearly shrieked, her eyes wide in a mixture of surprise and rage. "You've _been_ breaking into my apartment? For _how long?"_

"Just a couple days," Jack said, smiling sheepishly. So far, Rowan had gone from fear, to confusion, and was now at a place full of anger. This was certainly not what usually happened when he encountered a believer. He briefly wondered if anything like this had happened to the other Guradians.

Were believers Rowan's age common? Something told him they weren't, and that both excited and intrigued him.

"That is _so not okay!"_ Rowan hissed, closing some of the distance between herself and Jack in her rage. Jack leaned away. Even though in the back of his mind he still knew she was simply a person, a mortal human being with no abilities that could match him in a fight, her tone of voice was enough to make him nervous.

"Well-"

"Who do you think you are?" she demanded, taking another step forward, causing him to take a step back. "What, just because most people can't see you, that gives you the right to just waltz into my apartment any time you want?"

"That's not _exactly_-"

"Not exactly _what?_ You said you were sorry but are you really? Or are you just saying that because you were caught? What the hell kind of person is my little cousin palling around with? Are you even a person? Do you _have_ any morals, any sense of right and wrong?"

"Hey-!"

"No, I'm talking, you're listening," Rowan said. Jack found himself closing his mouth despite his desire to defend himself. The fact that she could see him was no longer on his mind so much as the fact that she was now lecturing him as North had attempted to days earlier. It was sort of annoying to be receiving the same speech he'd already heard before, but it would be a lie to say that Rowan was not far more justified in delivering it. "How did you know when I would be gone so that you could break in? Have you been spying on me? Is that why I keep seeing you in the corner of my eye?"

"I wouldn't call it _spying_ really-"

"Of course you wouldn't. I'm sure you don't think that what you've done is wrong at all, or why would you continue to do it?" To piss North off. To prove a point. To read more of the story about the pirate with terrible luck.

None of those seemed good enough to say out loud.

_Jack was utterly cornered as the girl listed off every terrible thing that he had done, a fire in her eyes as she accused him._

"I have a right to privacy!" Rowan said, jabbing him in the chest with her index finger. Jack watched as her hand continued to prod at him, only confirming further that she believed in him; she could touch him. As he watched her hand, he suddenly found himself wondering if he could craft a hand out of ice, with long slender fingers and two stars on the wrist. He shook his head of the thought. Now was not the time to consider ice sculptures. "I should be able to sleep, change my clothes, and- and- I don't know, _pluck my eyebrows_, in my own apartment without worrying that some immortal son of a bitch is going to be _spying on me_ the whole time!"

"I didn't watch you change!" Jack said, managing to get a sentence in edgewise at last. He took her hand in his and moved it from his chest. She quickly pulled her hand away, seeming surprised at the temperature. "And come on, the eyebrow plucking wasn't even that bad. Now, when you were trying to take care of your nose hairs, _that_ was funny."

Rowan, however, didn't seem to think this was funny at all, and with her face strictly expressing non-amusement she lifted the taser in her left hand again, hitting the switch that brought it to life.

Jack quickly took another step back and weakly said, "You know, uh, I'm not sure if that'll even _work_ on me or not."

"Let's find out together," Rowan said, and for a moment Jack was sure it was simply a threat. After all, she had the device in her hand for most of their conversation and had yet to actually use it.

However, in the next instant Jack jolted uncontrollably as electricity pulsed through his chilled veins. He could hear small shards of ice falling to the floor after erratically being conjured up by his staff in response to his sudden change in body language. The extreme discomfort lasted little more than a few seconds before Rowan pulled the device away and Jack lost his balance, gripping his staff tightly. He barely managed not to fall.

"Okay, okay!" Jack said, one hand moving from the staff and over the area on his chest where she had placed the device as he slowly pulled himself back upright. He felt a strange tingling throughout his being and was visibly shaken as he watched the girl cautiously. "You're right! Okay? I crossed a line."

"You think?" Rowan said.

"I invaded your privacy and that's not okay," he said quickly. He hoped that the speed in which he spoke did not take away from the sincerity. He was only hoping to get this apology out in the open before she decided to tase him again. The _smart_ thing to do would be to leave before she had the chance, but even if he wanted to, Jack doubted he could bring himself to fly for at least another few minutes. His whole body felt strangely numb and he was surprised he managed to stay standing.

"I didn't think you'd be able to see me or even know I was here- and before you say anything, I know that doesn't make it okay, but that's how I was justifying it and fine, I admit, I was wrong," he continued. "I _knew_ it was wrong. But I swear to you, I was only sticking around because I wanted to know more about your stories, and had I known right away that you could see me I would have just asked you about them."

"My stories," she repeated dryly, arms crossed.

"They're really good, you've got a lot of talent," Jack said, smiling nervously at the girl. He flexed his fingers, hoping feeling would soon return to them.

"How would breaking in here help you find out more about the stories?" Rowan asked.

"Well, I went through the notebook," Jack said as though it were obvious, gesturing (more slowly than he expected) to the kitchen table where the composition book still sat. Rowan's face dropped, and the color that had slowly been returning to it while she gained control over the situation drained away once more.

"You _read my notebook?"_ she whispered.

"Well-"

"Oh, this just got _so much worse,"_ Rowan practically whined. Jack was not expecting that reaction at all.

"Why?" he couldn't help but ask.

"You don't get it, do you?" she snapped. "That notebook is full of my unfinished ideas, drafts, concepts. They're my thoughts, good and bad, nothing in here is in any sort of state to be seen by someone besides me!"

"That's why you're upset?" Jack said, confused. "Because they're not done yet?"

"You can't just go through my story notes, okay? It's like going through my sketchbook or my diary! It's personal, it's a place where I can flesh out ideas no matter how good or bad they are without worrying about how it turns out. I can be myself in the pages of this book and you _violated that_," Rowan practically growled. It was clear that reading her notebook had upset her even more than breaking into her apartment or watching her had. Somehow Jack managed to feel even worse.

"I'm sorry," he said after a pause, with as much sincerity as he could manage. "I mean, I just wanted to know what happened in the stories, they're really great."

Something changed in her expression, and for a split second Jack could have sworn she seemed to be flattered by his words. However, she quickly recovered and returned to her stern demeanor. "Look, it's nice that you like them and all but you can't just go through my things like that! These aren't just stories to me, okay? They're my life, my _purpose_. If I don't have these stories… they're the most important thing to me."

Jack rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I really am sorry. Like I said before, if I had known that you could see me, I would have just been upfront about it. See, when people don't believe in me, it's like I'm not even there. They can't see me, hear me, touch me… so asking you about the stories seemed out of the question. I never meant to make you so upset, really."

Rowan's expression softened a bit as she watched him curiously. His words seemed to break through her rage, if only a little.

"Look," he said, hoping for the best. "I'd really like to start over."

She watched him quizzically and still did not respond.

Hesitantly he reached out his right hand to her. "Hi," he said. "I'm Jack Frost."

She watched his hand for a moment before slowly extending her own, goosebumps rushing up her arm as they made contact.

"My name is Rowan Sawyer," she said as they firmly shook hands before releasing their grasp on each other.

"It's nice to meet you, I wish the circumstances were better," Jack said with a short nod. Rowan watched him skeptically and began to circle him, seeming to analyze every inch of him.

"This is slightly uncomfortable," Jack said as she continued to walk around him.

"So is finding out someone's been breaking into your home and going through your things," Rowan retorted.

"Fair enough," Jack replied.

"So you're really _the_ Jack Frost," she said, stopping once she returned to her original spot. She set the taser down again, which caused Jack to sigh in relief. "Old Man Winter, the whole shebang?"

"Yep," Jack said with a smirk.

"I pictured you older… and dressed more like an elf, like the Christmas special," Rowan said, tilting her head as she continued to seemingly memorize everything about him.

"Sorry to disappoint," Jack said, making a face as he thought of the costume the stop-motion animated Jack Frost wore in the obviously-not-popular-enough-to-get-him-believers- any-earlier holiday special.

"How old _are_ you?" she asked. It seemed her curiosity had finally outweighed her anger, and Jack would certainly take that over being tased again.

"I turned 318 this year," Jack said. Rowan seemed a bit awed at the number but quickly hid it with more curiosity as she turned her attention to his staff. "How old are _you?"_

"Aren't you never supposed to ask a lady that?" Rowan asked, eyes still fixed on the frost that twisted elegantly around the staff in his hand. "I turn twenty on Saturday."

"Happy Birthday," he said.

"Thanks…" she said, trailing off as she lightly brushed her fingers against the staff, pulling them away as the frost began to climb along her fingertips. She watched the frost continue to spread to her hand until it quickly melted. "Peculiar…"

"So does this mean you won't tase me anymore?" Jack asked at last.

Rowan crossed her arms and watched him for a moment, as though considering his question before finally taking a deep breath and beginning to speak again. "You want me to forgive you for breaking in and invading my privacy?"

"Are you going to?" he asked.

"I will," she said, "On a few conditions."

Jack hesitated for a moment, wondering what on Earth these conditions could be. Deciding that they couldn't be much worse than being tased, or the chorus of 'I told you so's that he'd have to put up with the next time he saw North and Bunny, he said, "Okay. What are the conditions?"

"First," she said, ticking the conditions off on her fingers. "You will never enter my apartment without my permission again. You have to knock, like _decent_ people do."

"That's fair," Jack said with a nod.

"Next, you have to swear you're never going to go through my notes or sketches again. If you want to see any, you ask and I will show you what I want to show you."

"Also fair."

"And last," Rowan said, walking over to the table and scooping up her notebook and a pen. She turned back to him and flipped to a blank page before clicking the pen. She looked back up at him, meeting his eyes yet again. "You have to answer all my questions to the best of your ability, and _honestly_."

"Questions about what?" Jack asked.

"Everything," Rowan said. "You, the 'Guardians,' _everything._"

Jack slowly made his way over to Rowan's small couch and set himself down, his staff set on his lap as he smirked at her. He gestured to the spot on the couch beside him and said, "What do you want to know?"


	9. Questions

A/N: Thank you guys again for the super thoughtful reviews! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter.

* * *

_It briefly occurred to him that he was starting some kind of friendship with Rowan, and in doing so was doing the exact opposite of what Bunny had told him to do._

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Questions**

* * *

It had been hours and Rowan had asked Jack question upon question _upon question_ about everything she could possibly think of. She asked who each of the Guardians were, and for descriptions of what they looked like. She asked how North managed to deliver toys all over the world in one night and how Bunny managed to hide so many eggs in one day. She asked how old they each were and how tall, as well as what their favorite colors were. She asked about the elves and upon finding out about them, the yetis. She asked how someone became a Guardian and after learning more about the Man in the Moon, had asked if he was God.

Jack had truly never considered that notion before and had gone with 'no,' as an answer.

She asked about the other immortal beings that weren't Guardians. She asked about Cupid, the Leprechaun, and the Groundhog. She asked if Halloween had a spirit watching over it, and upon learning that the Headless Horseman was in charge of that holiday, asked about him and his backstory. Jack was permitted to see a few of the sketches she had created based on his descriptions and suggested a few changes to be made for accuracy. She scribbled away madly as he answered all her questions, seeming to warm up to him as the interview continued. He was even able to get a few smiles out of her, which was a welcome change.

Somehow the questions had led full-circle back to him. She suddenly remembered her roses and asked if he had been the one to leave them for her, and he explained his attempt to make up for breaking in all the time. She informed him that his attempted had failed, but thanked him for the flowers nonetheless.

Rowan asked him if he had always been Jack Frost, or if he had been someone before that, to which Jack hesitated a moment before explaining that he was born Jackson Overland and telling her a bit about his life before becoming Jack Frost. She asked how he transitioned from one to the other, knowing only that the Man in the Moon had something to do with it.

Jack debated over telling her the story of his death, finally saying it was a story for another time due to its personal nature. He half expected Rowan to argue with him, considering that their deal was that he was supposed to answer _all_ of her questions.

However, she agreed to hear the story another time, considering she already had so many things written down to mull over.

"I can't believe this all exists," Rowan said, flipping through the notes she had taken.

"I still can't believe you can see me," Jack said, watching her as she scanned over her notes. She was too enthralled with her research to notice him examining her in much the same way she had examined him earlier. There was something exciting about _her_ being able to see him. Now that she was no longer threatening him, similar excitement that he had felt when Jamie finally saw him could be felt building up inside Jack's being.

The only thing that made her different was her age, and all at once Jack decided that must be why he was so pleased about this. Rowan was right around the age that he would forever be stuck at, and something about that was exciting. Having her around would be like having a peer of some kind.

It briefly occurred to him that he was starting some kind of friendship with Rowan, and in doing so was doing the exact opposite of what Bunny had told him to do. Jack shook himself of this thought.

Bunny and North didn't get to tell him what to do, remember?

"I can't really, either," Rowan said. "What's it like to fly?"

"I can show you," Jack said, extending his hand out to her to take as he stood up from his place on the couch. She laughed a little and shook her head. "What's the matter? Scared?"

"I still don't trust you," Rowan said. That statement, spoken so simply, managed to sting more than Jack had anticipated it would. Rowan was certainly more cautious than any of the children he knew.

"I thought you forgave me, though," Jack said, lowering his hand at last.

"That doesn't mean I have to trust you," Rowan pointed out. She closed her notebook and brought herself to her feet. "Besides, it's getting late and I still have to eat something and finish an essay before I go to bed. I have to be at work study in the morning, so we'd better call it a night."

"You're turning out to be more complicated than I thought you were," Jack said, watching as Rowan walked across the way to the table, setting her notebook down on the surface with the pen seated directly beside it. She walked into the small kitchen.

"Well, no offense, but the only human beings you've had any conversations with lately have been pre-pubescent, I'm not surprised that you're not used to complexities like _responsibilities_," Rowan said as she fumbled through the cupboards and produced a package of instant noodles and a bowl. "Plus, you probably didn't break into their homes and go through their things."

_"Which you forgave me for,"_ Jack reminded her immediately. "By the way, _you_ still haven't apologized for tasing me."

"Don't hold your breath on that one," Rowan said, eyeballing the amount of water needed for her noodles.

"So, let me get this straight," Jack said, leaning on the counter across from Rowan. "I've apologized about ten times, agreed to your conditions to be forgiven for what I've done, and yet you get to tase me and not trust me?"

"Pretty much," Rowan said as she pressed a few buttons on her microwave. "Trust has to be earned, Jack. And I think you deserved the tasing, honestly."

"Do you really think you're worth all this trouble?" Jack teased.

"If I wasn't, you wouldn't have kept coming back," Rowan pointed out with a small shrug.

"I came back for the _stories_," he said. This excuse was beginning to seem more and more meaningless the more he said it.

"Those stories don't exist without me," Rowan pointed out, pulling herself atop her counter and sitting there.

"I'll give you that," Jack said. His mind wandered back to their earlier conversation where the tasing had taken place and asked, "Can I ask _you_ a couple questions?"

"Depends on the questions," Rowan said.

"Hey, I answered all of yours," he pointed out.

"We made a _deal_ that you would. And you actually _didn't_ answer all my questions, _Jackson Overland_," Rowan said. There, Jack had wondered when his apprehension to share that story would come up. Admittedly it was sooner than he expected.

"You just have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Is that one of your questions?" she asked with a slight smile that Jack couldn't help but return.

"You said you'd seen me since Burgess," Jack said. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"I saw you toward the end of my visit," Rowan explained. "Lurking around the living room window, but only ever for a second. I thought I was seeing things. Then I drove back here… there was a shadow and I kept hearing something hit the top of my car."

"Yeah, that was me," Jack said with a sheepish smile. "I couldn't keep my balance with your driving."

"My driving wouldn't have been so bad if _someone_ had not iced the roads," Rowan said.

"Hey, do you understand how many times I stopped you from crashing that day? At _least_ ten. At least. I stopped counting after that," Jack said, standing upright again.

Rowan seemed as though she were about to reply, but closed her mouth for a moment, seeming to rethink what she was about to say. Jack watched her expectantly before she finally said, "Well. Thank you for that."

"You're welcome."

"Why did you help me out in particular?"

"Jamie asked me to," Jack explained. "I thought I was asking the questions now?"

"Yeah, yeah," Rowan said, feigning annoyance but a smile still pulling at her lips. "That was very nice of Jamie to be so concerned. But anyway, I didn't get a good look at you until I stopped by the store on my way back, I saw you playing with some kids at a bus stop. I just remember thinking 'this guy is insane, he needs to put shoes on, it's freezing.' I mean, I _thought_ you might be the same person I kept seeing out the window in Burgess but I figured that wasn't very likely so I shrugged it off."

"You said you saw me outside the living room window; you didn't see me outside Jamie's window when you told him the story?" Jack asked.

Rowan shook her head. "No, but my back was to the window the whole time. I never saw you outside the apartment window either, but I guess I was just… really focused on my projects. Then I started seeing you lurking around campus and when Shirley and everyone else couldn't see you, I figured you were probably a ghost."

"Which is why you called me as much when you caught me here," Jack said.

"Pretty much," she said, sliding off the counter as the microwave beeped. She took an oven mitt before pulling out the bowl of noodles. "Was there anything else?"

"Where'd you get the taser?" Jack asked as Rowan mixed the flavor packet into her dinner-on-a-budget.

"As soon as I decided to go to school in a state that allowed them, Dad ordered me one. It was my going-away gift," she lightly blew on a forkful of noodles, hoping to cool it, before sliding it into her mouth. "Tonight was the first time I've had to use it since I started college though."

"I'm… um, honored, I guess?"

"Could've been worse," she said with a shrug.

"If you say so."

"You're still conscious, so."

"Well, thanks for going easy on me, I suppose," Jack said.

"Of course," she said, tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear. "Now, if you're done asking questions, you should leave my apartment."

"Ah man, you were serious about kicking me out, huh?"

"Sure was!"

Jack hovered a few inches above the ground, pleased to see that he had recovered enough from the tasing to do so. Flying a bit closer to where she stood, he held his hand out to her once more.

Setting down her fork, Rowan took his hand in hers and shook it as she had earlier.

"Until next time, then," Jack said.

"Just be sure to knock first," Rowan reminded him.

Jack simply smirked in response before twisting over her countertop in flight, heading for her window. Sliding the window open, he slipped through it, sending a strong gust of wind behind him to slam it shut as soon as he was through.

In the past three hundred years, he could remember few evenings that had gone quite so strangely.

* * *

Default alarms on any cellular device seemed to be the most obnoxious combination of tones and beats, strung together in what was probably only a tune in the loosest form of the word. This beeping monstrosity is what woke Rowan the next morning, as it did every morning.

She groaned in response, pulling one of the pillows on her bed over her head and mumbling obscenities as she buried herself into her blankets. Still, the beeping continued, technology not yet in a place to take these cues as an indication to activate the "snooze" option.

Finally, rubbing sleep from her eyes, Rowan rolled over to her bedside table, swiping at the touch screen of her cell phone with little rhyme or reason before it finally stopped beeping.

"The semester's almost over," she mumbled in an attempt to motivate herself to sit up. The bed seemed to become more comfortable the longer she stayed curled up in the blankets and she groaned again at the thought of leaving it.

She glanced at her phone, wondering when it would begin to beep again, or if she had even put the alarm on snooze or cancelled it all together. This train of thought quickly came to a halt, however, when her eyes fell upon her notebook, which she had brought to bed with her in order to scribble more thoughts before she went to sleep.

Rowan sat upright suddenly, pulling the notebook over as she remembered the events from the night before. Had all of that _actually_ happened? Or was it all a dream?

All of her notes on the Guardians she remembered writing were still in her composition book. This certainly implied that she hadn't gone through an elaborate dream, but she couldn't help but still find herself doubting as she climbed out of her bed and approached her window, covered in frost.

Written in the frost were the words, "Good Morning." Rowan lightly touched the words, finding that they had been written on the outside of her third-story window.

She smiled softly, finding that it was enough confirmation for her that it had all happened. She still wasn't sure what to think about the entire thing, and part of her still wondered if she was insane.

"Good morning, Jack," she whispered, before closing the curtains so that she could get ready without worrying about prying eyes.

* * *

Jamie Bennett had been home from school for a few hours now, his homework complete and now occupying his time with a pile of art supplies. Jack stood nearby, watching as Jamie worked on a portrait of Phil, the Yeti.

"You don't seem very surprised that your cousin could see me," he said, leaning against his staff.

"Rowan always told me that she still believed in Santa Claus," Jamie said, looking up from his drawing for a moment. "And the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman, and the Tooth Fairy. I always thought she just said it because she didn't want _me_ to stop believing… but then, part of me sort of thought that maybe she really did."

"She's sort of old for it," Jack said, still stuck on that factor. A girl about to turn _twenty_ believed in him.

"You're three-hundred," Jamie pointed out. Jack had no response for this. "Plus, our grandma says no one's too old to believe in magic."

"Jamie!" came Lorelei's voice from down the hall. Jamie stood up and walked across the room in time for Lorelei to appear in the doorway, her cellphone in her hand. "Rowan's on the phone for you."

"She must have more of the story to tell me!" Jamie said with excitement, taking the phone gently from his mother's grasp.

"Just bring me back my phone when you're done talking to her," Lorelei said.

"I will!" Jamie said as Lorelei made her way back downstairs. Jamie put the phone to his ear as he plopped down on his bed. Jack sat beside to him and set his ear near Jamie's in order to hear Rowan on the other end.

"Hi Rowan!" Jamie said cheerfully.

_"Hello, Jamie! How are you?"_

"I'm good, how are you?"

_"I've had an interesting few days."_

"Did you work on the story any more?" Jamie asked.

_"I did! But I wanted to talk to you a little before I tell you more."_

"About what?"

_"Do, uh… do you have a friend named Jack?"_

Jack smirked and Jamie said, "Yep!"

_"… Jack Frost?"_

"That's him."

_"What does he look like?"_

"He's skinny and has white hair. He wears a blue hoodie and carries a big stick around. You know, like Theodore Roosevelt."

_"'Speak softly and carry a big stick,' I'm glad you're paying attention in history."_

"Did you know that Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest but he was so tough that the bullet got stuck in his muscles?" Jamie said. "And then he still delivered his speech."

"That was the best speech I have ever gone to, hands down," Jack said.

_"Oh my God, he's _there?" Rowan's voice came from the other end of the phone, obviously having heard Jack's comment.

"No, Theodore Roosevelt is not here; he's dead, you see," Jack said. Jamie let out a small laugh.

_"I was going to call you a certain name but my little cousin is listening and he keeps a swear jar."_

"It's how I paid for my roller blades," Jamie said matter-of-factly.

"Calling to verify my story with your cousin, are we?" Jack said. Jamie had turned the phone slightly so that he and Jack could both easily speak into it and listen to Rowan.

_"Well do forgive me if I'm a little suspicious of someone who has allegedly had three centuries to master the fine art of lying."_

"Your lack of faith in me is ironic considering your belief in me," Jack retorted.

"Jack is a Guardian, he's one of the good guys," Jamie assured Rowan. "You should have seen him fighting the Boogie Man!"

_"The Boogie Man?"_

"Pitch Black, we didn't get to him during our little interview last night," Jack explained. "It's a good story, actually, but I believe it's _your_ turn to tell the stories."

_"Why are _you_ so concerned about hearing the next part of the story? You already went through my notebook you-_"

"Swear jar," Jack reminded her immediately. "And you forgave me for that."

A frustrated groan could be heard from Rowan's end of the phone.

"Rowan," Jamie said. "Are you going to tell us the story?"

_"Okay, okay. So, we left off with Jack finding out he needs some gold to summon the sea witch during the full moon, right?"_

"Uh-huh," Jamie said.

_"Well, being shipwrecked, Jack didn't have any gold. So, he had to come up with a plan to get some. Sneaking back toward town after promising the witch that had helped him that he would be back to visit, he crept along the shadows. He observed the townsfolk and tried to learn as much as he could about them, careful to remain unseen._

_ "He soon stumbled upon a man lying in the gutter, in the middle of what was sure to be a very long bender-"_

"What's a bender?" Jamie asked, interrupting.

"It's when you drink a lot of liquor for a lot longer than you should," Jack said. "Not something you ever want to do."

_"Pretty much. So this guy is really out of it but he's really, really well dressed. Jack soon realizes that this man is a butler and finds his opportunity. He convinces this man to trade clothes with him, and heads toward the grandest house in the area: the governor's mansion._

_ "Jack turned on his charm and was able to land himself a position at the house as a butler. It would seem that their previous butler had disappeared a few days prior."_

"Was he the one on the bender?" Jamie asked.

_"Yes, he was. Everything seemed to be working out fairly well for Jack. He had plans to stick around only until the full moon, at which point he'd steal some gold from the governor and use it to summon the sea witch. However, he knew that soon something would have to go wrong, for his luck was never this good._

_ "That's when he met Miss Gates."_

"I love Miss Gates," Jack immediately said to Jamie, who shushed him so that Rowan may continue her story.

_"Miss Gates was a maid at the mansion, and while the governor's wife was technically in charge of the staff, Miss Gates ran the house. Without her, the staff would never get anything done, the house would erupt into chaos."_

"What did she look like?" Jamie asked.

_"She had dark hair, always pulled back, and even darker eyes. She was rather young to be so commanding and respectable. Jack feared her almost immediately, and responded to her attempts to intimidate her further with snide comments and jokes to try and hide this. Secretly, she found his jokes to be funny, but in order to maintain her reputation, Miss Gates assigned Jack the most humiliating of jobs. He felt as though working at a mansion with Miss Gates was comparable to scrubbing the brig under the command of a ruthless pirate captain._

_ "But Jack could not let her distract from his goal, to rob the governor and summon the sea witch. So while Jack worked, he kept a mental list of all the valuables in the house and all the places in which they were hidden. In an attempt to keep things discreet, he stole a few small jewels from the governor's wife throughout the course of two weeks. She didn't even notice them missing, and Jack considered himself a great thief for accomplishing this._

_ "That is, until one day Jack was walking past the hall closet and was suddenly tugged inside of it, a furious Miss Gates suddenly speaking to him in angry whispers. 'I know what you are,' Miss Gates told Jack. 'I know that you're a pirate posing as a decent, hard working man. I know that you stole the jewels in my lady's box, I know that you've been keeping a close eye on all the valuables in this house.'"_

"How did she figure it out?" Jamie asked.

"Because Miss Gates is smart," Jack answered.

_"That's right, she's very smart," _Rowan said.

"What happened next?"

_"Jack was cornered as the maid listed off every terrible thing that he had done, a fire in her eyes as she accused him. 'Just how stupid do you think I am?' she demanded at last. 'Did you truly think you could just take a position here, in the house I essentially run, and rob this family without me finding out? You must think you're so clever.' Jack opened his mouth to respond but Miss Gates' gaze warned him against it._

_ "'Why should you get to rob and be dishonest while there's people in this world trying to make an honest living?' Miss Gates demanded. Finally, Jack found his voice and asked the woman why she was confronting him about this in the hall closet of all places. She would surely be seen as some kind of hero if she were to expose him in front of the governor and the rest of the staff."_

"So why didn't she?" Jamie asked.

"Don't hold your breath, this is the end for now," Jack said with a pout.

_"I wrote some more, actually," _Rowan said. Jack's eyes lit up at this statement.

"Well go on, then!" Jack urged.

_"Miss Gates was at a loss for a response for a short moment before leaning in and speaking in even softer tones than had been used before. She told him that she had been a decent, hard working person for years and had nothing to show for it. She told him that she knew where every valuable in that house was located._

_ "She told him, 'I want in.'"_

_ "Miss Gates had spent her entire life resenting pirates for having the life she longed for. She wanted adventure, she wanted riches, she wanted a life free of schedules, responsibilities, and making beds. She saw Jack, this pathetic sailor, a pirate without a crew, as her ticket out."_

"What did Jack say?" asked Jamie.

_"He thought she was making things up to try to get him to confess to something. She assured him that she was not, and Jack found himself believing her. He explained that he had no ship and no crew, and that for now his only plan was to get enough gold to summon the sea witch so that he could beat her in a challenge._

_ "Without even being asked if she would like to join, Miss Gates agreed to be his partner in crime, and began to explain to him how they would obtain enough gold and get away with all of it in tow. They had only two weeks to set this plan in motion before the full moon arrived."_

"Then what happened?"

_"That's all I have worked out for now," _Rowan said. Her response was met with a groan from both Jamie and Jack.

"When will you have more?" Jamie asked.

_"Maybe after the semester's over, I just started an extra project because apparently I want to suffer."_

"Will you promise to call?"

_"Of course. But I'd better let you go, okay?"_

"Okay. Goodbye, Rowan."

_"Goodbye, Jamie,"_ pause, _"Goodbye, Jack."_

"See you around," Jack said with a small smile, pleased to have at least been acknowledged. The call ended and Jamie brought himself to his feet.

"Better give Mom her phone back," the boy said. "Be right back."

* * *

Rowan set her phone down on her bedside table and leaned back against her pillows, staring at her bright computer screen. She had been working on laying flat colors for a project she had started during her downtime at work study that morning. She had continued tweaking it throughout the day during her breaks and hadn't stopped working on it since she had returned home from classes a few hours earlier.

At the end of each semester was a student show. The pieces had to be submitted for judgment and approval, and getting in looked great on a resume. Most people waited until the spring show, which was much bigger and allowed pieces from the entire year. Rowan had no plans to submit anything to the student show this semester until she had begun this project earlier.

Submissions were due at midnight. That night.

_"Why_ do I hate myself so much?" she mumbled as she continued sliding the pen for her graphics tablet across the tablet's surface in order to digitally complete the piece. She was fairly certain she could complete the work on time… just as long as she kept focused.

All of her drive was going into this project, most of her others already completed. She had woken up that morning with her mind racing and soon found herself inspired; she simply could not let this piece remain an idea. Especially since, for once, she thought it stood a chance to get in.

Once she had started the sketch, it had all just worked out too well.

Fiddling with some keys on her keyboard, Rowan zoomed out of her image in order to fit the whole thing on her screen. She sighed as Jack Frost smirked back at her, as though to taunt her and the fact that he had somehow become her muse.


	10. The Threat

A/N: My apologies for the late chapter! This one was another one that gave me problems, as I was worried about everything coming across clearly. Hopefully I'm not dumping too much information on you guys. We've got a few more introductions among other things going on in this chapter. Thank you again for the nice reviews last chapter, I always look forward to reading them!

* * *

_"You avoided me the whole meeting, Jack, is that any way to treat-"_

_ "You? Yes."_

* * *

**Chapter Ten: The Threat**

* * *

Jack managed to land on his feet for once after being tossed through one of North's portals. The signal for the Guardians to come to the North Pole had barely gone out moments before, the same instant Jack left the Bennetts' home.

Jack barely had a chance to consider following the signal himself before a pair of Yetis practically plucked him from the air.

"North," Jack said, annoyance clear in his voice as the Yetis that had fetched him emerged from the portal. "Why can't you ever just, I don't know, _ask_ me to come to the pole? I mean, I doubt you toss _Bunny_ around every time you need to talk to him."

Bunny scoffed, having just emerged from his tunnel nearby. "I'd like to see 'em try."

"You will remember, Jack, that we _tried_ that once," North said, fiddling with a toy airplane. The propeller began to spin and the man smiled as it flew from his grasp and over to the wrapping station. "You were meant to come here for annual summer meeting- your _first_ annual summer meeting as Guardian, I might add- and you tell me, 'Yes, North, I will be there.' But instead? You go to New Zealand and cause blizzard."

Jack seemed to be reminiscing over this blizzard, a smile on his face. "You should've seen it, though, North. That was a good day."

"You should have been here for that meeting."

"But Bunny said that the summer meeting is all about synchronizing numbers and reviewing belief percentages. A blizzard sounded more, well, _fun_," Jack said.

"Is not the point of meetings to be fun," North said. He turned to Bunny and added, "Why did you tell him that, you knew he wouldn't come."

"Am I supposed to lie to him? I'm a Guardian, I'm supposed to be setting a good example and all that," Bunny said, laughing slightly. He obviously wasn't too concerned about Jack not showing up to such a meeting.

"So why are _all_ the Guardians coming here?" Jack asked. "If it's so the four of you can lecture me about Rowan-"

"It's not, but I _am_ disappointed that you have _continued_ to break in," North said narrowing his eyes as he took a step back to allow some elves to scurry by with a roll of wrapping paper.

"She and I already sorted that out," Jack said as casually as he could manage.

"What do you mean you sorted it out?" Bunny said, he and North wearing the same shocked expressions. Evidently, North's sources hadn't informed him of this yet.

"Yeah, funny thing, turns out she can see me."

"She can _see_ you!?" North and Bunny said in unison.

"Who can see who?" came Tooth's voice as she and Sandy flew inside the pole, Sandy landing softly beside Jack. Tooth was joined by a few of her mini fairies, one of which immediately flew over to Jack and nuzzled herself against his cheek.

"Baby Tooth!" Jack said with a smile. "I've missed you too."

"Is this about the breaking and entering?" Tooth asked, as it seemed like no one had bothered answering her earlier question.

"Apparently the girl can _see_ Jack. Very curious," North said, clearly still puzzled.

"Who is it?" Tooth asked.

"Rowan Sawyer is her name," North replied and Tooth immediately seemed to be racking her memory for someone of that name.

Sandy grinned, recognizing the name immediately, and a pirate ship appeared above his head.

"Yeah, the girl with the pirate story. Nice work with putting me in her dream," Jack said with a smirk. Sandy simply shrugged as though to say that it was no big deal.

"We are not here to discuss Miss Sawyer," North said, trying to draw the others' attention back to the fact that they had been gathered here for something important.

"Is it the Muses?" Tooth asked, lured from her thoughts and seeming worried.

"Yes, Urania has gathered more information and requested an audience with all of us," North said.

"So what is it?" Bunny asked, seeming sort of bored at the idea. Jack couldn't honestly blame him, considering the limited and vague information that had been provided last time.

"I can explain that," Urania said, as she hovered down from the opening in the ceiling that Tooth and Sandy had entered from. She landed gracefully near Tooth and the two exchanged smiles in greeting.

"Toothiana, you look lovely as always," Urania said.

"It's so good to see you again, Urania!" Tooth said, throwing her arms around the Muse. Jack shot Baby Tooth (who had perched herself down on his shoulder) a confused glance, and in doing so spied Bunny rolling his eyes. Baby Tooth didn't seem nearly as confused as Jack was at the affection that Tooth showed the Muse.

It never really crossed his mind that the other Guardians likely had better relationships with the Muses than he did, much less _good _relationships.

"I'll tell you all what I learned as soon as the others get here," Urania said as soon as she and Tooth broke away from their embrace.

"The others?" Bunny said. "I didn't realize this was going to be a gathering of the Muses as well."

_"All_ of the Muses?" Jack said, making a face at the idea.

"Hopefully," Urania said, glancing toward the opening in the ceiling. "Oh, good, Calliope's here."

A bird flew down from the opening in the ceiling, seeming to have a slight glow to it as it approached the platform where they all stood. Before their eyes, in a burst of light, it transformed into the lovely brunette in the feathered dress.

Before anyone else could say a word, a huge grin came to Sandy's face and he floated on a dream cloud over to the woman. Various images flashed above his head, some of which were a sun, a moon, a heart, and some flowers.

"Sanderson!" Calliope said, her eyes lighting up as Jack had never seen before. The Calliope he knew was commanding and somewhat cold. And yet, here was Sandy, floating at eye level and prompting a strange warmth from her. She seemed delighted at the images flashing above his head. "I missed you too."

As though Jack could not be any more confused, the leading Muse leaned forward and kissed the short Guardian on the lips before briefly embracing him.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack said before realizing the words were coming out of his mouth rather than crossing his mind. He quickly glanced away, as though pretending someone else had said it as Calliope turned to glare at him.

"Ah yes, you've got yourselves a new member," Calliope said dryly, taking a seat on the nearby railing with Sandy. "Pity."

Tooth approached Jack and whispered softly in his ear. "Sandy and Calliope are, well, very close."

"Well, I kind of picked up on that," Jack whispered back. "It just doesn't really make any sense and I… guess I didn't think Sandy had it in him?"

"He was the first Guardian the moon chose, she was the first Muse the sun chose. They became companions and soon, well, more than that. They're the ones that started the alliance, wasn't any of this explained to you?" Tooth whispered, concern clear on her face at the fact that this was new information to Jack.

"Well, Sandy's not much of a talker."

"Ain't that the truth," came a voice behind Jack, causing both him and Tooth to jump in surprise. Quickly turning, the rest of the group found a short, blonde woman holding a grinning comedy mask to her face. Her brown eyes bat playfully behind the mask as she giggled before pulling it aside. Her clothes were strange, mostly white and checkered, her collar adorned with dramatic frills. She looked as though she belonged in commedia dell'arte.

"Hello Thalia," North greeted the woman.

"St. Nick," she greeted with a small curtsy. She turned back to Jack and smiled, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Hear you're a Guardian now, huh?"

"Yeah, I am," Jack said. Thalia and Urania were the only Muses he didn't feel an impending sense of doom around.

"Does this mean you can put a good word in with North for me about letting me have one of his elves?" Thalia whispered to him seriously. "I'd take good care of him."

"I don't think my word is going to mean much right now, I'm kind of in trouble," Jack said, rolling his eyes at the thought.

"Oooh, what did you do?" she asked, eyes lighting up. "Is this about the breaking and entering thing, Urania said you got a lecture for-"

"That is _not why we're here,_" North said, growing frustrated. Thalia pouted, releasing Jack from her grasp before placing her mask back to her face. In the next instant she vanished from the spot, causing the Guardians to glance around for her curiously.

She re-appeared near the other Muses, removing her mask once more before leaning against the railing and watching the globe as it rotated.

"Is Melpomene on her way?" Calliope asked Thalia, lightly running her hand over Sandy's hair as she spoke. Sandy wore a soft smile, seeming pleased to simply be seated beside the eldest Muse.

"How should I know?" Thalia said.

"She's Tragedy, you're Comedy," Calliope said.

"I'm not her keeper, Calliope. Aren't you all of ours?" Thalia said, batting her lashes again, mockingly.

"Please, no cattiness, this meeting is important," Urania said with a sigh.

"I can't believe _I'm_ not the one running late," Thalia said, glancing around as though she'd find other Muses hiding somewhere else in the room.

"One time in how many centuries?" Calliope said with a yawn. Thalia simply stuck her tongue out at the other Muse in response.

"Terpsichore isn't coming," came a low, sensual voice from the distance. At once everyone's heads turned to find a tall woman with her hair fashioned in victory rolls walking like a model on the runway behind some yetis. It seemed that unlike the others, she had entered through the front door. The yetis led the woman to the platform where the others waited. "Neither are Polyhymnia, Euterpe or Clio."

"Why not!?" Calliope demanded, standing up from her place at the railing. Sandy floated beside her, watching her with slight concern as her brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Clio says she already spoke with Urania and is looking through the past right now to look for clues to help us," the new arrival explained.

"It's true, I sent her a message in the stars," Urania said. "But I still expected her to come to the meeting. After all, time is on her side."

"If she can travel through time," Bunny said. "Why doesn't she just go into the future and see what exactly is going on and what we should do?"

"Clio's area of expertise is _history._ She cannot go any further forward than the current moment in time, the latest moment she, herself, has experienced. She can go as far _back_ as she wants," Urania explained.

"And what about the others, Erato?" Calliope demanded.

"Calm down, Calliope, _I_ didn't make them stay away, I'm simply the messenger. They thought gathering in one place would make us an easier target," Erato said with a shrug. "And considering that Euterpe, Polyhymnia and Terpsichore don't really have any powers that would be useful in a combative situation, I don't honestly blame them."

"And what exactly does the Muse of love poetry bring to the table?" Jack couldn't help but ask. Was she going to court the enemy to death? Erato simply rolled her eyes.

"What exactly does an immature brat with a stick bring to the table?" Calliope sighed.

"Now, now, _I'm_ the spirit of winter. There's no need for _you_ to act like a frigid bitch," Jack said. Calliope's eyes narrowed and Sandy shook his head slightly at both of them. Thalia couldn't help but laugh and place her mask before her face. She soon disappeared from the railing and re-appeared beside Jack, holding up her hand.

"I know she's my 'sister' so I should be on her side, but high five, that was good. You must have been waiting for the opportunity to use that one," she said. Jack smirked and slapped his hand against Thalia's before the Muse returned to her earlier spot, this time by foot.

"Oh, don't worry, Calliope," Erato said, tucking a loose strand of hair away. "Jack won't be smirking for long."

"I would like to just remind everyone," North said loudly, commanding everyone's attention. "That regardless of personal grudges, the Guardians and the Muses are allies. We protect each other, and help keep each other strong. This is very serious matter. Now I want _all of you_ to begin acting more professional. And if that means less talking from some of you," North cast a glance toward Jack, who rolled his eyes, "Then I suggest you take these steps."

The group was silent for a moment, like a group of school kids in trouble. The only sound was that of the yetis and elves working diligently in the background. Tooth suddenly flew over to Erato, who greeted her warmly and embraced her. Tooth leaned in and whispered something to Erato and the Muse sighed before nodding slightly.

"Is everyone who's coming already here?" North asked as Tooth made her way back over to the Guardians and Erato sat beside Thalia on the railing. "Can we get started?"

Jack held his breath waiting for an answer. The Muses that were present, he could more than deal with.

"Melpomene is on her way," Erato said. Jack winced. "As soon as she tears herself away from her current companion."

"She's not hanging around Pitch again, is she?" Bunny said, crossing his paws across his chest.

"Oh, probably," Calliope said bitterly.

"Here's a riddle," Thalia said. "Are tragic beings attracted to Melpomene or is Melpomene attracted to tragic beings?"

"I personally think it's a bit of both," a sort of hoarse sounding voice said as a woman dressed in black appeared from nowhere, holding a weeping tragedy mask before her face. Jack tried to act nonchalant as he slowly took a few steps back, leaning near the side of North's massive fireplace and out of everyone's immediate line of vision.

"Well, good, now everyone is here," North said, glancing down as a Yeti walked over and handed him something to sign. "Urania, tell us what you know. I have much to do!"

All eyes fell to the bald woman who seemed to be lost in thought. "Where do I start?" she mumbled to herself before glancing behind her to the globe. Kicking off the ground, she flew over to some lights in South America, pointing to them. They grew dim every few seconds, but regained their light shortly after. It was barely noticeable unless pointed out.

The yetis began mumbling to each other, as though wondering why they hadn't noticed this earlier.

"After much observation, I've been able to figure out the general locations and travel routes of our adversaries, as well as concluding who they are," Urania said carefully, hesitating.

"Whatever it is, it's affecting the children," Tooth said, flying closer to the lights, her mini fairies following her. The lights were growing dim in places in the other continents as well.

"It could be a number of things, my first thought was Fearlings," Urania said.

"Fearlings are extinct," Melpomene said at once. She glanced back at North. "You all made sure of that."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Bunny said, eyes narrowing at the woman.

"Comedy does not exist without tragedy, you should know that joy does not exist without fear," Melpomene said.

"We are not here to fight over this," Calliope snapped, glaring at Melpomene until the other woman crossed her arms and glanced back at the globe like a barely obedient teenager.

"It was my first thought," Urania said. "But I knew it was unlikely."

"Fearlings were Pitch's minions," Jack said. He avoided Melpomene's gaze as she and the others turned at the sound of his voice. The Guardians seemed confused at his new location toward the back, having not noticed him moving. "He could still be behind this, it could be the Nightmares, or-"

"Pitch has nothing to do with this," Melpomene said at once. Jack continued to avoid her gaze, deciding to focus on the globe.

"How can you be so sure?" Tooth asked gently.

"After what you all did to him a few months ago?" she said, pushing black hair from her face. "He's still recovering. He's much too weak to attempt another attack. Besides, I've been with him, I would have known."

"I honestly don't think it's Pitch either," Urania said. "When I spoke to Tsar Lunar earlier, he also expressed his doubts in the Boogie Man being involved. No, what's happening here," Urania pointed to the flickering lights once more, "is a similar darkness to Pitch, but it isn't him. These beings are feeding on the strongest aspects of a person. Imagination, creativity, talent, hope, optimism… belief. They're claiming these aspects for their own power and purpose."

"Shadow People?" Tooth said at once, the mini fairies looking nervous the moment that the words passed her lips.

"I believe so," Urania said.

"Shadow People haven't ever been a legitimate threat," Erato said. "What's changed now?"

"Hey, uh," Jack said, still lurking in the background. "New guy here, what's the deal with Shadow People? I thought they just hung out in the corner of your eye and made you paranoid."

"They do," Thalia said, seeming serious for once. "And you don't need to believe in them to see them."

"It's true, they gain strength from that feeling that you're being watched, from the fear of the figure you saw for just an instant before it went away. Those feelings leave your spirit, or I suppose, 'center' as North would put it, unguarded and easy to access," Calliope said. A few images flashed above Sandy's head, prompting the others to turn in his direction and watch carefully. "And Sanderson's right, they rarely take enough of a person's center to cause any permanent damage."

"They have no reason or purpose in anything they do," Erato added. "It's all just survival and moving on for them."

"Things _have_ changed," Urania said, having difficulties hiding the grim expression creeping to her face. "The Shadow People have always been very disorganized. They worked alone, and it's true, they were never much of a threat before. But now they've come together and found strength in numbers. Now they have a common goal."

"So what is it exactly that they're planning to do with this new strength? Why are the lights going dim?" Bunny asked.

"They're destroying the very things they feed on," Urania said. "Leaving behind an empty shell. Not just of children, but of adults, too. The victims no longer can find their hope or their drive to create. All they feel is despair once the Shadow People stop feeding now."

"And when this happens to children, they will stop believing," North said. Urania nodded.

"Is it permanent?" Calliope asked.

"It _might_ be able to be reversed, but it would take years of actively trying to regain what was lost," said Urania.

"Like therapy?" Jack said. "Because I can tell you right now, everyone affected is going to end up treating this like clinical depression if they treat it at all."

"Most likely, I only hope that something like this, something that has been interfered with magically, can be treated in such ways. We'll have to see if there's not something any of us can do to help."

"Is this macadamia nut?!" Thalia suddenly exclaimed as an elf came by with a tray of cookies. "You are so precious, why can't I have one of you?"

The others cast her confused glances as she took a bite of said cookie. She smiled apologetically as she chewed. "Well I'm not going to let a bad situation take away from some good baking! North, back me up!"

North simply took a cookie off the tray himself and said, "I will tell you again, Thalia, my Elves belong at the pole."

Thalia sighed, and soon attention slowly made its way back to the globe.

"I thought these guys were supposed to be threatening the Muses," Bunny said. "This sounds more like it's going to hurt the kids."

"Well, here's the thing," Urania said. "The strongest part of each of us is our power, our 'center,' and working together like this, the Shadow People might be able gather enough strength to take a Muse's power to inspire and use it for their own purposes. That's what the stars were warning us about. They're after _our_ powers, specifically."

"No offense," Jack said, "But what good will your powers do them?"

"As Muses, we can manipulate thoughts and dreams so that we can inspire people," Calliope said, clearly irritated with the need to explain everything to Jack. "However, Sanderson and I made an agreement ages ago that the Muses would _not_ interfere with the dreams of children."

"Nightmares," Melpomene said suddenly. "They're riding on Pitch's coat tails, _picking up where he left off._ With the powers of a Muse, they'd be able to manipulate dreams and turn them into nightmares."

"And the more thoroughly the Shadow People break a person's spirit, with nightmares and feelings of dread and paranoia… the more powerful _they_ become," Erato said.

"With all of that in play, the kids will stop believing in us," Bunny said.

"If the children stop believing we'll be weak enough to easily be fed on as well," Tooth added.

"Not to mention, people will no longer have the drive to create, which will weaken the rest of _us_," Calliope said. "We can give them ideas but we can't _make_ them create."

"And that's beside the fact," Urania said. "That taking our powers would kill us instantly. They've been working slowly to fly under the radar but they're gaining momentum."

"So what do we, you know, _do_ about this?" Thalia said, brushing away crumbs from her lap. "I mean, we never paid Shadow People enough attention to really learn how to get rid of them."

"They hide during the day, we'll have to inform the others to travel and try to stay in daylight for now," Calliope said. "To keep them _and_ their powers safe."

"Tsar Lunar has offered his moonbeams," Urania said. "They can easily chase the Shadow People off, even destroy some of them, but the only problem with that is they're only as strong as the phase of the moon at the time. During a full moon they'll be their strongest, but at the new moon they won't be able to help at all."

"We appreciate that very much," Calliope said, looking up to the opening in the ceiling where the moon was silently observing the meeting. The moon shined brighter if only for a moment to acknowledge Calliope's gratitude.

"So are we supposed to just lie low and hope they don't find us? And if they do that we'll be able to hold them off? Or that the moonbeams will be able to help?" Erato said. "I hate to admit it, but Jack made a point earlier-"

"I what?" Jack said, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"Don't make me say it again," Erato said, bringing herself to her feet and standing beside Urania so she could better address the others. "Jack asked what I brought to the table when it came to combat. I _don't_ have much to offer when it comes to fighting, myself. I usually rely on my ability to coerce others to fight _for_ me. Terpsichore, Polyhymnia, Euterpe… they had a point too, when they decided not to come. When the sun created us, he didn't anticipate us really having to defend ourselves."

"That's why we came to the Guardians," Calliope said. "We can't fight this ourselves."

"But that's just it," Bunny said. "We don't know _how_ to fight these things. We know they don't like light but all it does is make them hide, we don't know how to actually defeat them."

"And until we find a way to do so, you'll all just be hiding from them, hoping they won't try to attack," Tooth said with a frown, her mini fairies seeming distressed as well.

"Well, we might not all be targets," Urania said, hoping to try to make the situation seem a bit less bleak. "They've broken up into groups, they're looking for something specific. Probably whoever's powers would be the most useful to them."

_"All_ of us have the power to manipulate thoughts and dreams," Calliope said. "It just comes down to whoever's area of expertise they prefer. Melpomene would seem an obvious choice."

"So I'll disguise myself," Melpomene said, setting her mask to her face for a moment. Upon pulling the mask away she was the mirror image of Thalia, though still wearing her black gown.

"I don't know," Thalia said, examining her new clone critically. "You were more repulsive before."

"It wouldn't matter, they can sense your center," North said as Melpomene placed her mask to her face once more, only to return to her previous form. "It will be difficult to eliminate them as a threat until we know more about them."

"We need to learn more about them and their weaknesses and what can be used to defeat them," Calliope said. "We have to get _rid_ of the threat, we can't just keep running away."

"Not to mention, figure out which of us they're looking for and why, so that Muse can be put under protection," Urania said.

"You all know what you need, don't you?" Melpomene said, casually running her hand through her long, smooth hair. "There's one man that knows the darkness better than anyone."

"We are not asking Pitch for help," North said immediately.

"You might not have a choice," Melpomene said. _"We_ might not have a choice."

"Did you miss the part where he tried to wipe us out?" Bunny said.

"And the part where he _killed_ Sanderson," Calliope said, her teeth clenched. Sandy pat her on the shoulder and offered her a smile as though to assure her that he was fine.

"Oh boo-hoo, all the Guardians are fine and stronger than ever," said Melpomene, bringing herself to her feet as Erato had done earlier. "You're all always going on about how the Guardians can't exist without us and we can't exist without them. You all are so quick to forget that the light can't exist without the dark."

"We are _not_ asking Pitch for help. He cannot be trusted," North said sternly. Jack thought it was sort of nice to hear the older man speaking to someone _else_ in such a way.

"Fine," she said. "Have fun trying to figure out how the Shadow People work from an outsider's perspective, then. Hopefully none of us are stripped of our powers in the meantime."

"So what exactly _is_ our plan until we find out what they're after?" Jack said at last. "Just keep an eye out and try to figure out what their deal is?"

"This is what we do," North said. "Urania, you will continue gathering information. See if the stars will tell you _anything_ else. You will be safe among their light."

He turned to Calliope. "Calliope, you will watch over the remaining Muses, do what you can to keep them out of harm's way. Direct the moonbeams and make preparations in case a fight _does _become necessary. I want _all_ Muses to be prepared."

North was now facing the Guardians and addressing them. "As for us, I will continue to work on Christmas. It must go well to keep the children believing and the rest of us strong so we will be _able_ to help. I want the rest of you to be cautious and if you come across a Shadow Person, approach with great care and get as much information as you can. Find out if they can be approached as the Nightmares were or if we must re-evaluate our fighting strategies."

"Or, you could _just ask Pitch,"_ Melpomene said, frustrated.

"Melpomene, shut it," Calliope snapped.

"As soon as we find out who the Shadow People are after, we will place them under protection," North said. "Until then, all we can do is learn more and be prepared for anything."

"We'd better get started, then," Urania said. "I'm going to try and find Clio to see what she learned in the past and then I'll head to Canis Major first, maybe I'll find something there."

"I suppose I'll go find Terpsichore, Polyhymnia and Euterpe," Calliope said, bringing herself to her feet at last. She turned to Sandy and pulled him into her arms. "I hope to see you again soon, Sanderson. Under better circumstances."

The small man returned her embrace and a few more images flashed above his head.

"I'll go with you, I think," Thalia said, holding up her mask to her face once more. "Strength in numbers and all that. Terpsichore is probably somewhere around Australia right now."

"Yeah, I saw her around, I can take you there," Bunny said, tapping his foot on the floor so that one of his tunnels appeared. Thalia's eyes lit up at the sight.

"Thank you, Bunny, it is a long commute otherwise for those of us who can't teleport," Calliope said, casting a quick glance toward Thalia and Melpomene.

"It's really more of a scene change," Thalia said with a shrug. She bid the others goodbye before stepping forward and jumping down the tunnel.

"Coming, Melpomene?" Calliope asked. The Muse in question simply scoffed. Calliope rolled her eyes before turning to Erato. "What about you?"

"Oh, no thank you. I was going to ask North if he'd loan me a portal," Erato said, turning to the man. "Seeing as I can't fly _or_ teleport. I caught a ride on one of Sandy's dream clouds that was passing by earlier."

She turned to Sandy and added, "I hope you don't mind."

Images of various modes of transportation appeared above Sandy's head and he gave her a thumbs up to show that she could do this any time.

"Thank you, Sandy, I really appreciate it," Erato said.

"Yes, I can spare a snow globe, where are you headed, Erato?" North said.

"Paris," she said with a smile. "What better place to hide from darkness than the city of lights?"

"Good choice. Phil?" North said, turning to the nearby yeti. "Take Erato to the snow globes and give her one on the _lower_ shelves. Trying to clear the ones the elves can reach out."

Erato followed the Yeti and Urania shot through the ceiling with a flash after bidding her own farewells. After pecking Sandy on the cheek, Calliope disappeared within Bunny's tunnel, and Bunny followed shortly after.

As Sandy and Tooth bid their farewells and left the same way they came in, Jack barely noticed a figure nearby, being preoccupied in saying goodbye to Baby Tooth who flew after Tooth.

"Oh, Jack, it's been so long," Melpomene purred, suddenly beside him, her mask held loosely in her hand. He jumped at the sound and turned to face her. They went unnoticed by North and the Yetis who went straight back to work on the Christmas preparations once the other guests left.

"Not long enough," Jack said shortly, taking a step to the side in an attempt to get away from her.

"You avoided me the _whole_ _meeting_, Jack, is that any way to treat-" she began.

"You? Yes," Jack said, avoiding her gaze and continuing to walk away from her. Unfortunately she quickly placed her mask to her face and re-appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

"What's the matter? Still mad?" she said, pulling away her mask. A sick little smile was pulling at her lips, which Jack chose to focus on rather than her eyes. "I didn't realize you were one for grudges. It's not attractive."

"I'm certainly not going to start expecting anything _good_ to happen around you," Jack said. Pitch had once told him that he made a mess wherever he went. Jack was beginning to wonder how Pitch could say such a thing about Jack if he knew Melpomene.

"Oh come now, it's been centuries," she said.

"Melpomene," came North's voice. He approached the pair and Jack found himself relaxing slightly. "Why are you still here?"

"Oh, just catching up with my friend here," Melpomene said, running a long, skinny finger along the edge of Jack's jaw, smirking as frost covered her hand. "Oh, so defensive."

"Yes, well, you seem to have caught up plenty," North said, narrowing his eyes at the woman who returned the gesture. She placed her mask to her face and vanished once more without so much as a goodbye. North turned his attention to Jack. "Be careful around that one."

"You don't have to tell me," Jack muttered.

"What has it been centuries since?" North asked, referring to Melpomene's early comment.

"I don't want to talk about it," Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck and watching the elves rush by with more supplies. "It's not that great a story anyway."

"Speaking of stories…"

"Are you really gonna lecture me about Rowan now? Because it looks like you're busy and I should probably go," Jack said, gesturing to the rest of the workshop as if North had forgotten about the extensive work being done.

"Jack, please listen to me," North said. "If Miss Sawyer is okay with you visiting there is not much I can do. However, you cannot get tied up in these stories and forget what is important. She cannot become a distraction, and-"

"If you're gonna go on about how she's mortal and going to die, I already got this lecture from Bunny, you two should compare notes sometime," Jack said, completely leaving out the part where Bunny had suggested discussing the matter further with North.

"Jack, growing attached-" North began.

"Will only end badly for me, I told you, I heard this already. I have my own way of dealing with this, I really don't need your help when it comes to Rowan," Jack said. "Now, I've got blizzards to cause, some kids are due for a snowday."

"Fine, but this conversation with continue at a later time," North said as another yeti appeared with something else for him to sign. He was obviously much too busy to lecture Jack now, which Jack was thankful for.

Kicking off the ground, Jack flew out of the opening in the ceiling, bidding the North Pole a farewell for now.


	11. Think Happy Thoughts

**A/N**: So pleased that you guys enjoyed the last chapter and approve of my villains so far! This chapter isn't as serious, but the Muses will be back next time. And as far as Jack and Melpomene go? Well, I'll definitely reveal more about that later, I hope you all enjoy what i have in mind. Also, **seldomselcouth**, you get a virtual gold star because yes, Sandy and Calliope are my own little nod to the Sandman comic books! I was very excited to see that someone had caught it.

* * *

_"He's just this boy I met in Burgess."_

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Think Happy Thoughts**

* * *

Rowan fastened her scarf around her neck, bracing herself for the cold as she stepped outside. She stuffed her hands into her pockets as she carefully made her way down the steps outside the building, eyes focused on the ground as she tried not to slip.

"It's Saturday."

Rowan looked up from the pavement, barely getting a chance to wonder who was stating the obvious before her brown eyes caught a pair of icy blues directly in front of her.

"It is," she acknowledged, walking around Jack, who was hovering directly in her path. It was snowing, but lightly, on campus today.

"So why are you at school?" he asked, falling into step beside her, his staff propped against his shoulder as he walked.

"I got into the winter show, I had to come in either today or tomorrow to hang my piece. I didn't want to do it today but I _certainly_ won't want to do it tomorrow," Rowan replied, stopping short as a few students carrying some strange looking sculptures, a large, blank canvas with a lot of slashes in it, and a few smaller paintings passed. They watched her quizzically as they passed before whispering among themselves after they believed to be out of earshot.

"Yeah, just a reminder, no one else knows you're talking to me," Jack said with amusement as Rowan sighed in frustration.

"Great, now the _fine artists_ think I'm crazy," she mumbled. Jack laughed.

"Oh man, this means you can't talk to me in public, huh? This could be fun," he said. She raised a brow at him and opened her mouth, but immediately closed it as another student walked by.

"So what did you get into the show? Judging by the snow sculptures at this school – very realistic, I might add – and the paintings those guys were carrying, it probably had something to do with genitals."

Rowan rolled her eyes.

"Was it male or female?"

Rowan simply cast him an annoyed glance as they continued walking.

"Both? That's ambitious. Did you use photo references or live models?"

Rowan crossed her arms and bit her lip, trying desperately not to respond. There were still other students prowling around. In the next moment, however, her eyes lit up and she began searching through her coat and jean pockets.

"What are you looking for?" Jack asked.

"Aha," she said, pulling her cell phone from her pocket, holding it up before Jack with a smirk. She fiddled with the touch screen for a moment before putting it to her ear. "Now I can talk to you and no one will know a thing."

"I appreciate the lengths you're going through to keep talking to me, I knew you liked me," Jack said, smug.

"Oh, you think you're real special," Rowan said, her phone still to her ear. "This is only so I can get a word in edgewise without seeming insane."

"What happens if the phone rings?"

"It's on silent. Now, for your information, I am majoring in Illustration with an emphasis on _Children's Books_, so no, my submitted piece did not involve anything explicit."

"So you've _never_ painted a penis?" Jack asked skeptically.

"Do you mean have I ever directly applied paint _to_ one or have I painted a rendition of one?" Rowan said, bored.

"The second one. Well, the first one too," Jack said, furrowing his brow as he considered this.

"I haven't done the first one but I have done the second one. Life drawing is a part of my core curriculum," she said. "You seem _awfully_ interested in representations of male sex organs."

"I'm interested in how many naked people _in general_ you've drawn," he said with a shrug.

"How can someone over three hundred years old be so immature?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not immature! I'm… curious?" Jack said. "I mean, is it strange just going to class and having a nude model hanging out there?"

"It's not really a big deal, you get used to it really fast," she explained. "And they're only nude when they're posing. During breaks they at least wear a robe. It's all very professional."

"Any of them at least attractive?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Nope," she said simply, smiling slightly.

"Shame," he said. The pair was silent for a moment before he added, "Oh, and happy birthday."

Rowan seemed surprised that he had remembered. "Oh, uh, thank you."

"Doing anything for the occasion?" he asked.

"Going to dinner with some of my friends," she replied with a slight shrug of the shoulders. "Nothing too big. It's still the middle of finals."

"I thought you were almost done."

_"_I finished _my_ projects; next week is all critique. Shirley and Adam still have a lot to do before that, as per usual."

"When is dinner going to be over?" Jack asked.

"I don't know, probably no later than nine, why?"

"I'm gonna visit," he said simply. "It's been a good few days since I've dropped by, been busy with Guardian stuff."

"Yeah, two whole days of bothering someone else. My life has been so empty while you've been gone," Rowan said dramatically.

"I know, I know, you've missed me terribly," he said, placing a hand to his hip and walking with more poise than he had before.

Rowan laughed. "Yeah, Jack, my life has no meaning without you, if only you knew how much I yearn for your company."

"Who's Jack?"

Rowan turned to find Shirley walking with a tall, lanky blond boy with glasses. Rowan quickly glanced at Jack and then her phone before hastily saying, "I've, uh, got to go," and pretending to hang up the phone.

"Wow, Rowan, don't even tell the guy bye," the boy said.

"Adam's right," Shirley said, though she seemed impressed. "Are you playing hard to get? Who _is_ this Jack person?"

"Is it the same Jack you've been drawing all week?" Adam asked.

"You've been drawing me? And haven't shown me?" Jack said, appalled. Rowan sighed, frustrated at the amount of questions coming at her at once.

"Jack Overland," she said after a brief moment of thought. She couldn't exactly tell her friends she was talking to an invisible winter spirit. "He's just this boy I met in Burgess."

"And named a character after?" Shirley said.

"What are you even doing here, it's Saturday," Rowan said suddenly, sliding her hands into her pockets.

"We need to use the printers," Adam said with a shrug.

"You're avoiding the question, Birthday Girl. Is Jack Overland the same Jack from your drawings?" Shirley asked, nudging Rowan with her elbow. "Come on, I want details."

"Well," Rowan started, glancing back at Jack for a moment, who seemed very amused at the situation. "He's got a very _strong _personality. It was kind of hard _not_ to base a character on him."

"'Strong personality,' is that a euphemism for something?" Adam asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Okay, but _does he look like your drawings,"_ Shirley asked as though this was the most important question that she could possibly ask.

"A bit," Rowan said vaguely.

"Damn," Shirley said, pulling out her phone and beginning to slide her finger across the screen. "I gotta look him up and see what the real thing looks like."

"What is she looking me up on?" Jack asked, knowing very well that Rowan couldn't answer him.

"You won't find him," Rowan said. "I mean, there'll probably be a few people with that name, but he's… not into social networking."

"Wise man," Adam said. "I've been meaning to get rid of my facebook profile for ages but the games keep me there. Gotta defend my tetris score"

"Well tell him to send you a picture," Shirley said, holding up her phone. "Because I want to see him. If he's _half_ as cute as your drawings…"

"Cute, huh?" Jack said, his smile growing even more smug if possible. _"Am_ I as cute as your drawings, Rowan?"

"Oh, he must be, or you wouldn't be turning so red," Shirley teased as Rowan blushed at both Jack and Shirley's comments.

"It's the cold," Rowan said immediately.

"Is it the cold or is it hot, steamy thoughts of Jack Overland?" Shirley whispered suggestively. Rowan buried her face in her hands as Jack began to laugh. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about this guy earlier! We're supposed to be best friends!"

"I'll tell you about him at dinner, you guys have to print stuff, don't you?" Rowan asked, wanting to get out of this conversation as soon as possible.

"Fine, fine, Miss Responsibility," Shirley said with a groan. "We'll pick you up at seven!"

"Provided my car starts," Adam clarified as Shirley took him by the hand and started toward the library.

"Sounds good," Rowan said, nervously beginning a small braid in her hair.

"Happy Birthday, Rowan!" Shirley called back to her.

"Two decades!" Adam added.

"Thank you," she called back, watching them until they reached the library doors. As soon as they disappeared inside the building, Rowan immediately headed for the parking lot.

"I didn't realize I had been on your mind so much," Jack teased, flying beside her.

Rowan opened her mouth to respond but seemed to think better of it, simply groaning and shaking her head as she continued walking toward her car. She pulled her lanyard with her keys from her pocket.

"Aw, lost for words? Don't feel bad, I mean, _lots_ of girls get flustered talking to cute boys," Jack said with a smirk.

Rowan stopped beside her driver's side door and gaped at him for a moment, unable to actually form a proper response to Jack's statement until she spat out, "Oh, you think you're cute, do you?"

"I think your friend thinks I'm cute," Jack said, smug. "And I think _you_ think I'm cute."

"You want to know what I think?"

"Hm?"

"I think your ears are too big," Rowan said, beginning to tick her statements off her fingertips. "I think you're so skinny that if you weren't some immortal whatever-the-hell, I'd suggest you go see a doctor. I think you're a sickly shade of pale. I think your eyebrows don't match your hair. I think you've got the most smug smile I've ever seen, and every time I see it, I want to smack it off your face."

Jack touched one of his ears for a moment before saying, "Please. All of those things are adorable, and you know it."

Rowan rolled her eyes and opened her car door, sliding inside and starting the car so it could warm up. She leaned back in her seat and rubbed her temples, eyes closed. How had she managed to attract such an _annoying_ spirit?

Jack knocked on Rowan's window and she reached over to roll it down. "What?" she demanded.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Jack said simply, still smirking. Rowan decided not to respond verbally and instead began rolling the window back up as he laughed.

However, she couldn't help the small smile dancing across her own lips.

* * *

It was dark outside and Rowan had barely stepped back inside her apartment when there came a tapping on her window. Pulling out her phone, she glanced at the screen to find that it was a few minutes past nine, just as she expected it would be. She locked her apartment door before walking toward the window, dropping her keys on the table as she passed before pocketing her phone once more.

She pulled her curtains aside and smiled, finding exactly who she expected outside the window. After taking a second to fiddle with the lock, she slid the window open and stepped aside to allow Jack to glide inside the room.

"Hello again," she said, closing the window. "It's been _so_ long."

"Decades, how old are you now?" Jack said, settling himself down on her couch.

"Still younger than you," Rowan replied, unbuttoning her pea coat and sliding it off her shoulders. She draped it over one of the chairs near the table.

"You might want to put the coat back on," Jack advised casually, picking up a book that was on the other couch cushion and skimming over the back of it.

"Oh?" Rowan asked. "How come?"

"I'm taking you flying," he said. "For your birthday."

"Oh no, you're not," Rowan said, shaking hear head.

"Come _on_," Jack said, setting the book down. "Your cousin loves it."

"My cousin is in elementary school and doesn't consider the possibility of falling to his death," she pointed out.

"I'm not going to let you fall, trust me!"

"Why should I?" she asked seriously, walking to the fridge and pulling out a water bottle.

"Why _shouldn't_ you?" he asked, standing up and walking over to her kitchen counter.

"I've known you for less than a week, this could be some kind of elaborate trick to take me somewhere I'll be devoured by a yeti or something," Rowan said. "Not to mention, your name is Jack."

"It's not an elaborate trick, yetis don't eat people, and what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Jack asked, confused about what his name had to do with anything.

Rowan took a drink of her water before shrugging and simply stating, "You can't trust anyone named Jack."

"Name one Jack you can't trust," Jack challenged.

"Jack the Ripper, serial killer," Rowan responded immediately.

"Well, okay, that's one. And who knows if his name was even really Jack," he said, waving off this response with his hand.

"Jack from _Jack and the Beanstalk._ All he had to do was sell a cow and he comes back with a fist full of beans."

"Yeah but it worked out in the end."

"He _robbed and killed the giant._ And regardless, he couldn't be trusted with a simple task. Then there's Jack Sparrow-"

_"Captain_ Jack Sparrow."

"Whatever. You couldn't trust that guy at all."

"I feel like that's more to do with the 'pirate' thing than the 'Jack' thing."

"Jack and Jill, they were just supposed to get some water but got themselves killed."

"That might not have been all _Jack's_ fault."

"Jack Skellington, pretty much stole Christmas, had Santa Claus kidnapped, and wouldn't listen to Sally until after he messed everything up."

"Oh come on, these past few Jacks aren't even _real,"_ Jack said with a frustrated sigh.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rowan said, "But are you really going to stand there, being _Jack Frost_ and tell me that Jack Skellington doesn't exist? Maybe you just '_don't believe.'"_

Jack opened his mouth to respond but soon realized he didn't actually have an argument against that and settled for rolling his eyes, something he was doing a lot lately. Rowan simply smirked before taking another drink of her water.

She wiped water from her chin before continuing. "Captain Jack, heroin dealer. Jack with the candlestick, what the hell is he doing playing with fire? Jack Dawson- well he just had some terrible luck, honestly, but he just proves you should never travel with a Jack."

She walked over to her bookshelf and pulled out a leather bound book, opening it to a marked page. Jack followed her to this part of the apartment as she continued. "And let's not forget: 'Jack Frost. Freezing cold personified, prone to mischief and happiest when there are no obligations or responsibilities to fulfill. Some legends portray him as a benevolent being who wishes only to spread cheer, while others suggest a more vengeful spirit, responsible for hypothermia and other winter-related deaths.'"

"I'm the Guardian of _Fun," _Jack reminded her. "Besides, you don't believe any of that 'Jack Frost kills his victims by attacking them with the cold' stuff."

"How can you be so sure I don't?" Rowan asked, setting her book back on the shelf.

"Once again, the lady doth protest too much," Jack said casually, plopping back down on her couch and holding his hands out before him. He smiled as he began creating shapes out of snow and frost. "You have all your made-up reasons behind not trusting me, but I think when it comes down to it, in your gut, you _do_ trust me."

"Oh really?" Rowan said, unable to help but walk closer to watch as the frost swirling between his hands began to take form. "You sure do think highly of yourself."

"If you didn't trust me," Jack said. "You wouldn't let me back into your apartment. You would _definitely_ be trying to get Jamie to cut off contact with me."

Jack now held an icy representation of a bird in his hands. He released it and smiled as Rowan watched it fly around her apartment in awe.

"Not to mention, you keep acting like you can barely stand me or you're still mad about me breaking in, and if _this_ were true," Jack said, standing up and taking a few paces so that he could stand beside her. "Why would you be drawing pictures of me so much and pretending to talk on your cell phone so you could keep talking to me in public?"

"That was because you were being annoying and ignoring you wasn't going to work," Rowan said, her eyes still fixed on the bird, which performed fantastic twirls through the air before bursting into light snow falling throughout the apartment.

"Put your jacket back on," Jack said. "I'm taking you flying."

"I just explained to you why that's a bad idea," Rowan sighed.

"Yeah but you didn't mean any of it," he said with a shrug.

"Don't tell me what I do and don't mean," she said, eyes narrowed. "It's getting old really fast."

"Fine, fine, but we both know you're just scared," Jack said casually. "Wait until Jamie finds out that his cousin's a big chicken."

"I'm not _scared,_ I just don't want to gamble with my _life_," Rowan insisted, stepping away from Jack.

"Do you ever do _anything_ without analyzing all the risks first? Seriously though, you seem to think you have everything figured out, and where's the fun in that?" Jack asked.

"Living to see the day _after_ my twentieth birthday, maybe?"

"Come on, Rowan," Jack said, hovering over to her. "You've _never_ wanted to fly? Never wondered what it's like?"

"Look, Peter Pan, this isn't a matter of thinking happy thoughts and aiming for a star just because you liked some of my stories," Rowan said, leaning against her counter. "I'm not a child! I have other things to worry about, I can't just drop everything and go to Neverland with you."

"I promise to have you back without a scratch and with plenty of time to do whatever boring grown-up stuff you have to do, _Wendy,"_ Jack said. "Put your jacket back on."

"You're not gonna drop this, are you?"

"I know you want to go."

"Don't tell me what I want!"

"Are you really going to stand there and act like you don't have a Peter Pan tattoo?" Jack asked, taking her left wrist in his hand and holding it up as though she might have forgotten the two stars permanently etched there. The one on the right slightly larger than the one on the left. "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning?"

"So I like the story, that doesn't mean I want to be Wendy," Rowan said, taking her wrist back from Jack.

"I think it means you want to fly," he said. "And there's no shame in that."

Rowan was silent for a moment, her gaze locked with Jack's as though considering what he had said. Finally, she grabbed for her peacoat and began to pull it back on.

"Fine," she said, fastening the buttons on her coat. "But _never_ call me Wendy again."

"Deal," Jack said, grinning. Rowan took a stripped scarf from a hook on her wall and fastened it around her neck before pulling on a pair of fingerless gloves.

"How do we do this?" she asked finally.

"Well, I can't tug you around by your arm like I do with Jamie. The weight difference will probably throw that off," Jack said thoughtfully. He turned so his back was facing her and said, "Just hang on to my shoulders, we should be fine."

_"Should_ be fine?" Rowan winced.

"Trust me!" Jack laughed.

"So I'm supposed to just climb on your back and you'll go right ahead and show off? This is starting to feel really _Twilight,_ and that's not really a good thing," Rowan said.

"Obviously not, I'm _much_ more attractive than that weird British guy in those movies. Now, come _on!"_

Rowan hesitated. If she went with him there was no turning back. The thought of flying with him both terrified and excited her, and right now she wasn't really sure which emotion was going to win out.

When was she ever going to get a chance to fly again?

Finally she took a deep breath and stepped forward, hesitantly sliding her arms around him, clutching his shoulders. He was cold to the touch and she noticed the fabric of her gloves developing frosted patterns.

"Ready?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be," she said. The wind picked up outside and suddenly her window slid open with a _bang_.

"Hang on!" Jack laughed before kicking off the ground and sending both of them toward the now-open window. Rowan immediately shut her eyes and clung tighter to the boy if at all possible. She felt the sting of the cold air on her cheeks and soon heard the sound of her window slamming shut behind them.

"Open your eyes, you're gonna miss everything!" Jack said, the laughter still in his voice. Rowan forced her eyes open, finding that she had buried her face in the back of Jack's hood. Slowly she turned her head and watched as they climbed higher in the sky and the lights of the town below became smaller.

"Holy shit," she mumbled, her breath clouding in front of her. She was _actually_ several hundred feet in the air with nothing but Jack holding her up. Her stomach hadn't stopped doing flips since they reached the outdoors. Her heart was pounding so rapidly that she was certain it would burst out of her chest if Jack wasn't immediately blocking its way out.

Jack took a sharp turn and began flying away from town, now that he had reached the level of altitude that he desired. "Nice view, huh?"

"Where are we going?" Rowan asked, realizing it was something she should have asked _before_ they left. She took a moment to wonder just how odd they must have looked, with her practically lying on top of him while he glided through the air.

"I don't know yet, that's part of the fun," Jack replied. "Ever been to Europe?"

"No, but it's not like you can get us all the way there, right?" Rowan asked.

"That sounds like a challenge to me!" Jack said, and before Rowan could respond, the wind picked up and they began shooting through the air even more quickly than before. Rowan's nails now dug into the fabric of Jack's hoodie and her heart somehow managed to pound even faster.

"We're not _really_ going to Europe," Rowan said, her tone half a statement and half questioning. All previous notions of what was and was not impossible were becoming more and more meaningless the more time she spent with Jack.

"You'll see," was Jack's only response and soon they were losing altitude, flying no more than two feet above a seemingly endless stretch of water. The moon, which seemed brighter than usual, lit their way. Jack froze some waves every now and again with his staff, delighted at the abstract shapes they formed.

"Please tell me we're not flying over the _Atlantic_ right now," Rowan said, though she could taste the salt in the air.

"I would, but that would be a lie," Jack said. "Stop worrying so much, we'll be fine!"

"You're right, Jack, no one has _ever_ suffered an icy death in the Atlantic before," Rowan said sarcastically. Jack simply smiled before spinning around in the air so that Rowan was now hanging above the water.

She let out a small shriek and clutched him tighter, her knees gripping the sides of his thighs so that she wouldn't fall in. Jack laughed again, spinning once more so that he was between Rowan and the ocean again.

"Don't ever do that again!" she whined. "Do you know how many nightmares I've had about drowning?"

"Sorry!" Jack said, though the amusement was still clear in his voice. "Don't know how to swim?"

"I do, but I'd rather not right now," she said, wincing as Jack swerved in order to avoid being hit by a large wave.

"Okay, okay, we'll fly up higher, but you've gotta see something first," Jack said, flying a few yards higher than he had been and hovering upright, staring down at the surface for a moment.

"What are we looking for?" she asked, following his gaze to the dark water below them.

"Wait for it…" he said, grinning.

A dark, smooth object, visible only thanks to the moon, came to the surface and released soft spray of water before disappearing beneath the surface again. This action was repeated in a few other areas before a tail emerged from the water for only a moment before submerging once more.

"We were a few feet above some _whales_ this whole time?" Rowan said, unsure how she felt about this.

"Give them a second, the humpbacks like to show off," Jack said.

Sure enough, one of the massive creatures flung itself almost entirely from the water, landing with a giant splash on its back. Jack quickly dodged the splash, just in time for another whale to lunge forward. She basked in the moonlight as she spun through the air before landing on her back as well.

"This is insanity," Rowan said, finally finding her voice after watching the whales with her mouth agape. "We're _so close."_

"Race ya!" Jack called to the whales before beginning to fly off in the direction that the whales had been headed in. Another whale completely emerged from the water beside them, and Rowan swore it almost looked as though it were smiling at the pair before falling back to the water. Jack barely managed to miss the resulting splash again.

Up ahead, another whale began to break the water's surface and Jack quickly reminded Rowan to hang on before speeding forward, flying close to the water's surface as they had earlier. Rowan didn't even have a chance to ask Jack what exactly he was doing before she found the two of them flying directly beneath the breaching whale, icy water dripping off the creature and onto them.

They barely cleared the area below the whale before he crashed back to the surface.

"That whale could have _crushed_ us," she said, looking back at the area where the creature had re-entered the water.

_"Could _have," Jack reminded her. _"Didn't."_

Rowan rolled her eyes, feeling the water that had dripped onto her hair freezing in the frigid air. "This is insane."

"You need a new adjective," Jack laughed, flying off to the side to avoid yet another splash from a nearby whale.

"Well it is!" Rowan said, laughing as well. "We were almost crushed by a humpback whale! This is… _amazing."_

"There you go! We also would have accepted 'phenomenal,' 'incredible,' 'wonderful,' and 'spectacular,'" Jack said, smiling as the whales continued their show.

"Do you do this all the time?" she had to ask as he leaned down and touched the fin that one of the whales had stuck out of the water, as though to offer the winter spirit a high five.

"Every now and again," Jack replied, climbing higher in the air once more. The next whale to breach seemed to be attempting to reach the same heights but fell short.

"We'll fly with them a little while longer," he said. "Then I'll find somewhere we can land for a while."


	12. Searching

A/N: Hey guys, so sorry for the late chapter. Life kind of got in the way and I wasn't able to finish this earlier in the week. Once again, thanks so much for your wonderful reviews, I always look forward to reading them!

Also, just as a reminder, if you would like to see any of the artwork that _I_ have made for the story, please visit my profile and check out the links there! I drew my avatar and the story's cover image.

* * *

_"You don't know?" North said, eyes wide, for the first time seeming quite appalled at the women before him. "How can you not know?"_

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Searching**

* * *

"I think a ten minute break will do you some good, North… you're going to brush after you finish those cookies, right?" Tooth said, as she hovered near the man at his workbench. North had bags under his eyes from working in the factory for who knows how many hours (possibly days) straight, but the warmth and wonder was still present behind those eyes. He smiled at the fairy's comment.

"Of course, Tooth," he said, reaching for another cookie from the tray and dunking it into the mug of milk in front of him. Urania and Calliope stood on the other side of the table, watching the man with concern.

"Have you slept at all?" Calliope asked.

"Do not worry about me. It always gets tiring once December hits, I will be fine," North assured them before biting into his cookie. "I will sleep soon, and give Phil some instructions so he may run things a few hours."

"Good to hear," Urania said.

"Why have you only called _us_ together for this meeting?" Tooth asked the Muses, her mini fairies fluttering around the room to examine North's prototypes.

"I didn't think it was entirely necessary for _everyone_ to be at this one. Besides, it took a while to actually get to the point at the last meeting," Urania explained.

"What have you found out?" North asked, brushing some crumbs from the surface of his table.

"Well, after talking to Clio and searching the stars further… well, it's actually pretty obvious who the Shadow People are after," Urania said. "Which Muse has power which is under virtually _no_ protection? Power that is uncontrollable, and at times unstable? Power that could _very easily_ be taken and manipulated for the Shadow People's use?"

The others grew silent, knowing very well what Urania was talking about. North seemed worried, the pace at which he was chewing slowing down considerably. Finally Tooth spoke up.

"So," she said. "They're after the Mortal Muse."

"Exactly," Urania said.

"Well we shall place her under protection immediately! She may come to the pole if she must!" North said, clearly passionate about the issue. "We will schedule shifts for the yetis to watch her if necessary."

"Who is it?" Tooth asked.

Calliope and Urania exchanged nervous glances.

"Well…" Urania started, hesitantly.

"You don't _know?"_ North said, eyes wide, for the first time seeming quite appalled at the women before him. "How can you not know?"

"A Mortal Muse hasn't made the transformation to Full Muse in _centuries_," Calliope explained, her voice giving away her embarrassment. "Euterpe was the last one to become a Full Muse and that was so long ago I doubt even _she_ remembers the exact date."

"We sort of stopped keeping track," Urania elaborated. "Especially after… well, you know."

"Yelena. I know," North said, the serious nature of his voice sending a chill through everyone. "I know better than anyone."

"We just felt at that point that it was best not to get attached," Calliope said, her tone gentle for once, her expression sympathetic.

"Do you know anything about this one?" Tooth asked, hoping to bring the topic back to the present, rather than dwelling over what had happened in the past.

"Well, obviously she'll be female, they always are," Urania said. "I'm not sure how old she is or _where_ she is, but I _was_ able to find out that she's a Sagittarius. So, that narrows it down a little bit, at least. The Sun was able to clear _that_ up for me, but he knows just about as much as we do."

"As soon as I come in contact with her, I'll _know_ it's her," Calliope assured the others. "I just… need to figure out where to start looking."

North stood suddenly and walked to the door of his workshop and called out to one of the yetis. He returned shortly with the yeti he had called following him closely behind.

"I think we can help you," North said.

"How so?" Urania asked.

"Every child that ever celebrated Christmas is in my records," he said, reaching for yet another cookie from the tray. "Along with whether they are naughty or nice, their favorite color, their favorite toys… as well as their birthday and their location."

Calliope and Urania's eyes lit up.

"So, provided the Mortal Muse ever wrote you a letter," Calliope said. "She'll be on your list somewhere."

"Exactly," North said. He gestured to the yeti beside him. "Joe can get you a list, and then you will have somewhere to start."

"Thank you, Nicholas, this is so helpful," Calliope said, seeming as though a small weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

North turned to Joe, the yeti, and said, "Take Calliope to the master list, I want you to make her a copy with filtered results. This list should have every living girl from both naughty and nice who is a Sagittarius. Be sure to include location."

The yeti began babbling as Calliope walked around the table to meet him

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I'll let you know what dates Sagittarius is when we get there. Thank you so much for your help."

"You start the search, then," Urania said, walking toward the nearby window. "I'll find the other Muses and fill them in."

"Tooth," North said. "Would you mind terribly playing messenger for the other Guardians so they know what is happening?"

"Not a problem!" Tooth said, her mini fairies hovering beside her again as she prepared to fly out the window that Urania had just opened. "Besides, I want to talk to Jack, anyway. I feel like there's so much that he still doesn't know, I figure someone should give him a crash course on the Muses."

"Please do," Calliope said as the yeti held open the factory door for her. "Explaining everything to him is exhausting."

"Let's head out!" Urania said, shooting out of the window and across the sky.

"Come on, ladies, we'll fill Bunny in first," Tooth said. She and her mini fairies rushed out the open window, the light of the moon guiding their way.

* * *

Once Rowan's boots hit the snow, she released her death grip on Jack's shoulders and walked on unsteady legs, trying to get reacquainted with being on solid ground. Jack rubbed his shoulder where Rowan had been hanging onto him and walked with her, smirking as she kept turning about to look at everything around them.

"Stonehenge," she breathed, approaching the stone closest to her, examining it in the blue light emitting from Jack's staff and the unusually bright moon in the clear sky. "This is so eerie. This is so-! Are we even allowed to be here? In the middle of this?"

"Absolutely not," Jack said simply. "But it's about three in the morning here, no one's going to know."

"They'd better not, because the authorities can see _me_ and that would be interesting to try to explain," Rowan said, reaching forward and brushing her fingers against one of the massive stones, if for no other reason than the fact that she'd likely never get the opportunity again. "'So here's the thing, Officer, Jack Frost flew me here from the United States without a passport and just dropped me here in the middle of one of your grandest national treasures, not to mention one of the great wonders of the world.' That'd go over real well."

"Stop worrying so much! If you'd rather _not_ experience this because of the very small chance you'll end up in a foreign prison, I could always take you to like, a forest or something boring," Jack said with a shrug.

"A forest? Once more, how very _Twilight_. You're not going to start sparkling, are you?"

"I'll try not to," Jack laughed. "Just admit it, you're having fun. And the fact that we're here and we're not supposed to be here makes it _more_ fun."

"Yeah, okay, so maybe I am," Rowan said reluctantly. "You've managed to show me a good time."

"Well, I _am_ the Guardian of Fun."

"That you are," she said, rolling her eyes at his title.

"If I can get _you_ to have fun, I figure I can handle anything," he said matter-of-factly.

"Are you saying I'm no fun?" Rowan asked, feigning offense, turning from the stones to look at him at last.

"I'm saying you're way too cautious to be any fun on your own," Jack challenged. "You were ready to skip out on tonight if I hadn't peer-pressured you into it."

"So what, I can't be spontaneous?"

"I don't think so," Jack said, shaking his head, still smiling at her. Rowan approached him and glared for a good few moments, arms crossed before her and considering her next move.

She shoved him backwards, nearly making him fall and began running off in the opposite direction, dodging between the stones. "Tag!" she shouted. "You're it! No flying!"

Jack watched her rush off in confusion for a few seconds, as though trying to figure out what exactly just happened before smirking and running after her. Rowan stumbled, finding the several inches of snow difficult to run in but had gotten enough of a head start from Jack that she was confident she'd be able to keep away from him at least for a while.

That is, until she went sliding across a sheet of ice that appeared out of nowhere and landed face-first into the snow in front of her. She groaned, pulling herself up to a seated position in time for Jack to approach her.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, no thanks to-," she started.

"Good," he replied before he reached over to tap her shoulder, and soon ran off again while shouting, "You're it!"

"You cheater!" she called after him.

"You didn't say 'no powers!'" he laughed, coming to a halt considering that Rowan hadn't even brought herself to her feet yet.

Rowan busied herself momentarily by brushing the snow off of her coat before starting after Jack again. He remained standing where he was, faking a yawn as she approached, waiting until she was no more than five feet away before finally deciding to run off.

Rowan cursed her lack of speed as she continued rushing after Jack, her breath clouding in front of her as she went. She had never been very fast, she'd always been picked last in team sports in her childhood. And her winter boots? Definitely not made for running.

She made a sharp turn around one of the stones, hoping to head Jack off as he turned up ahead and was pleased to find herself actually catching up with him somehow. As they approached the center of the monument again, the thought crossed her mind that Jack might be running slower on purpose but shook it from her mind. She reached forward, having every intention of tagging the spirit back.

What happened instead was Rowan failing to properly judge the distance or her speed and crashing straight into Jack, causing both of them to lose their balance and fall over into the snow.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," Rowan said, brushing snow off her face. "And now I've face-planted twice, maybe that should be the end of this game."

"We're not really evenly matched anyway," Jack said, stretching slightly and making himself comfortable, still sprawled out in the snow.

"Well if you wouldn't _cheat,"_ Rowan said, rolling her eyes and lying back in the snow as well, eyes fixed on the night sky. "Is the moon really bright tonight or is it just because we're away from the city?"

"It's partially that, I'm sure," Jack said, glancing up at the moon as well, wondering what Manny thought about Jack not especially doing anything productive toward figuring out the Shadow People. "But the Man in the Moon is also on the look out for the Shadow People right now."

"Shadow People?" Rowan asked, turning her head to watch Jack. "You mean those ghost things that you see for like a split second and then they disappear?"

"Yeah, they also pretty much suck out your soul if they get too powerful," Jack said. "We had a whole meeting about it a few days ago, they're after the Muses."

"From Greek Mythology?"

"Well, the Greeks were the first ones to write about them, at least," Jack said. "But I don't think any of them are Greek. I could be wrong, though."

"So what's their deal, then? Are they like Guardians or something else?"

"Yes and no? I'm still learning about them myself. They follow the sun, and the Guardians follow the moon. We've got this alliance that I guess goes _way_ back, so now that the Shadow People are after them _we_ have to get involved."

"You don't sound too pleased about that."

"Most of them don't like me," Jack said hesitantly. "I mean, they all seem to _love_ Tooth, and Calliope is apparently dating Sandy, which is still confusing to me."

"I guess them liking Tooth makes sense," Rowan said, sitting up and brushing more snow from her person.

"How do you figure?"

"You said she was the Guardian of Memories, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm pretty sure there's a version of the myth where the Muses were daughters of Zeus and… I can't remember her name, but she was the personification of memory," Rowan said, looking about at the monument as she spoke. "So, that could explain some kind of kinship they find with her."

"I guess. Though, she's definitely _not_ their mother, some of them are older than she is," Jack said. "Not to mention, I don't think any of the Muses are actually related."

"So why don't they like _you?"_ Rowan asked.

"Most of them have no good reason," Jack said, pulling himself up to a seated position.

_"Most_ of them?" Rowan laughed.

"Okay, so I have bad history with Melpomene," Jack said. "But the rest of them just don't like me for the hell of it, I think."

"What went down with Melpomene?" Rowan asked. "Maybe they're holding a grudge for her."

"Oh man, don't make me tell the story, it's long and… well, Melpomene is involved, so it's tragic," Jack said, rolling his eyes at the thought.

"Well now I _really_ want to know."

Jack simply groaned in response, pulling himself back to his feet. "Let's just say that Melpomene and I have history and it's not good."

"You _do_ know I'm going to ask you about it again at some point," Rowan said, standing back up as well.

"I'm sure," Jack said.

"So what do you guys have to do about the Shadow People?"

"We're not really sure right now, we don't know much about them, just that they don't like light. Pitch would know more but like we're really gonna ask him for help."

"You never did tell me about this grand battle against the Boogie Man," Rowan pointed out, remembering when her little cousin had mentioned it. Something caught her eye from behind Jack and she leaned over to get a better look.

"Shit, are those headlights?" she asked. Jack turned around to see what she was looking at and saw the moving lights as well.

"Looks like it, guess that's our cue to leave?"

"Probably," Rowan said, turning back to Jack. "How about you tell me the story about _Pitch_ on the way back to Pennsylvania?"

_"That_ I can do," Jack said, turning around so that his back was facing her once more. "Try not to hang on so _tightly_ this time? I swear you left marks."

"No promises," Rowan said, gripping Jack's shoulders again. "Now get me out of here before I'm arrested.

* * *

Tooth sped through the air, sending her mini fairies in all directions as she took note of teeth in the area. As much as she wanted to stop and collect some of them herself, she had other matters to take care of. She had already spoken to both Bunny and Sandy, filling them in on the happenings of the earlier meeting.

Now all she had to do was find Jack.

She had checked his small home in Burgess, first, seeming a logical place to begin. However, the cabin had been empty and after searching the rest of the small town, Tooth had to come to the conclusion that this was not where Jack was this fine night. She then started to search the remainder of the state.

Tooth had begun to wonder if perhaps she should try another country entirely when she had a strong feeling that one of her favorite sets of teeth was actually nearby. Flying off toward a small college town, Tooth found herself flying outside a third story window of a small apartment complex. Peeking inside, she found Jack, as she was hoping.

He was closely examining a drawing on the wall while speaking to a girl seated on the couch. The girl was in the process of removing her iced over snow boots, her scarf and gloves draped lazily over the arm of the couch.

Her mini fairies began to squeak in disapproving tones, one ready to fly forward through the glass and toward the girl. Tooth quickly stopped the small fairy and shook her head, though her eyes were still fixed on Jack.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, more to herself than anyone, slightly disappointed. As quickly as she had allowed her poise to falter, she shook herself out of it. There were greater things to worry about.

Tooth knocked on the window, hoping to draw their attention. Jack turned and the girl looked up before approaching the window to see who was there. The girl turned to Jack and spoke to him briefly. He responded, smiling at Tooth and offering her a wave in greeting, which Tooth returned before the girl unlocked the window and slid it open.

"The Tooth Fairy, I presume?" the girl said.

"You can call me Tooth," Tooth replied. "You must be Jack's mortal friend. Rowan, was it?"

"Yes, that's me," Rowan replied. She glanced back at Jack, examining him critically. "I mean, I _guess_ we're friends. _Sort of."_

"Does this mean you don't want to get friendship bracelets?" Jack asked, pretending to be very disappointed.

"May I come in?" Tooth asked.

"Yes, of course. See, Jack? Some people ask _permission_ before entering someone's home."

"Hey, our agreement was that whenever I come over now I have to knock, and I've _been_ doing just that," Jack said with a shrug as Tooth and her mini fairies flew inside, the fairies immediately buzzing around Rowan. They examined her critically, shuffling through the small braids and pins in her hair and flying close to her face.

Rowan took a step back, trying to wave them away. "Hey, hey! What are you doing?" she said, swatting at one of the fairies that took it upon herself to check Rowan's teeth. The fairy immediately dodged Rowan's hand, squeaking in protest.

"Ladies! Fall back!" Tooth said, hands on her hips as she gazed disapprovingly at the fairies that reluctantly returned to their leader's side. Tooth turned to Rowan and said, "I'm so sorry, they don't usually behave that way."

"Oh, good, I knew I was special," Rowan sighed. She tried to smooth out her hair, which had become quite disheveled when the fairies began to examine it. "Just as long as they don't do it again, it's… fine."

"What's wrong, girls, jealous?" Jack laughed, the fairies flying near him and squeaking cheerfully at his acknowledgement.

"Left maxillary first molar, Reno," Tooth said, pointing to one of the fairies. "Right lateral incisor, Mexico City," she pointed to the next one in line. "And you, there's a left canine in Toronto. Move out!"

The fairies seemed disappointed, waving to Jack before rushing out of Rowan's apartment, straight through the glass of her window.

"Did they just go _through_ my window? Like, through the _glass?"_ Rowan said, staring wide eyed at the area that the fairies had exited from.

"It's how they're able to collect the teeth," Tooth explained. "I really am sorry, I don't know what came over them."

"It's fine, really, just… took me by surprise," Rowan said, turning back to finally get a better look at Tooth. She stayed hovering a few inches above the ground, her wings fluttering rapidly.

"It won't happen again," Tooth assured her.

"Good," Rowan said, still watching her closely. Tooth shifted under Rowan's gaze, examining herself as though to see if her feathers had begun to fall out or something. Finally, Rowan said, "You've got such pretty feathers. Look at the colors!"

"Oh! Thank you," Tooth said, offering the girl a smile.

"You should see the sketch she did of you," Jack said to Tooth.

"You drew me?" Tooth said, seeming delighted at the idea.

"Oh, well, it's just a rough sketch, I only had Jack's description to go off of," Rowan said, walking to her bedside table and picking up her notebook. After flipping through a few pages, she handed Tooth the book so that she could see the sketch, surrounded by notes on the Tooth Fairy. "I think we came pretty close."

Tooth scanned over the sketch, finding that Rowan had indeed rendered her well. The sketch version of Tooth was taller, with longer legs and the wings were a bit off, but most other aspects seemed quite accurate.

"This is really nice!" Tooth said. "I wish I could take it with me."

"Maybe I'll draw a better one to give to you," Rowan said, taking the notebook as Tooth handed it back to her.

"That would be wonderful," said the fairy.

"Will I be receiving any of the drawings you've done of me that I've _heard_ about, but haven't seen?" Jack asked.

"Maybe," Rowan said with a shrug. "Christmas _is_ coming up."

"Did you draw all of these?" Tooth asked, having wandered over to the wall to examine the drawing pinned there.

"Most of them," Rowan said. "The ones that say 'R. Sawyer' in the corner."

"You're very talented," Tooth said. She pointed to one of the sketches. "I really like this one, of the mermaid."

"Thank you," Rowan said. "That was a preliminary sketch for a project."

"What brings you by, Tooth?" Jack asked at last. Tooth turned away from the sketches. "Here to join the festivities?"

"Festivities?" Tooth repeated.

"It's Rowan's birthday," Jack said.

"Oh! Happy Birthday!" Tooth said. She produced a quarter from seemingly nowhere and handed it to Rowan. "Here. I know it isn't much, but, short notice and all that!"

"No, this is great, I need these for laundry," Rowan said, eyes darting from Tooth and back to the coin, wondering where exactly it had come from. She very obviously had no pockets. "Thank you! Although, as of about an hour ago it's December second so, not my birthday anymore, technically."

"Happy One-Hour Belated Birthday, then," Tooth said with a smile.

"Can I ask you something?" Rowan said.

"Of course."

"Where do you get all the money?" Rowan asked, holding the coin up before her.

"I've actually kinda wondered that too," Jack said, settling himself down on one of the chairs surrounding Rowan's dining table.

"Stock market," Tooth said simply, as though it were obvious. "I got Apple stocks really cheap when they first started. I just liked the logo, who knew it would turn out so well!"

"Apple _computers?"_ Rowan said, eyes wide. "I don't even want to _think_ about how much of my tuition goes toward the Mac labs at my school."

"How much was the fancy laptop you've got?" Jack asked, gesturing to the computer on the table with the Apple logo on the back, partially concealed by stickers.

"I don't want to talk about it," Rowan groaned at the thought. "They're all the illustration department uses."

"Not to change the subject," Tooth said. "But there _is_ a reason I came here. I was looking for you, Jack. I just got back from another meeting at the pole."

"Guess I wasn't invited?" Jack asked.

"It was just Urania, Calliope, North and I," Tooth said. "But I do need to fill you in on the new information we have. I was also going to tell you more about the Muses in general."

"Sounds like a ton of fun," Jack mumbled.

"I know your relationship with the Muses isn't the best, but they _are_ our allies, and it's important you know more about them," Tooth said.

"I know, I know," Jack sighed.

"You seem thrilled," Rowan observed with a laugh. "I mean, come on, you don't even have to hang out with them, you just have to hear about them for a little while."

"Exactly!" Tooth said. "Though I need to go back out and help direct the fairies, I was hoping we could maybe fly together while we talked?"

"You collecting teeth tonight?" Jack asked.

"Maybe! That would be nice," Tooth said, her face lighting up at the thought of gathering the teeth herself again. She should be able to, now that she had tracked the boy down.

"Yeah, I'll fly with you, it'll be like a few months ago when we all went collecting with you," Jack said, pulling himself to his feet.

"Great!" Tooth said. She turned back to Rowan and smiled nervously. "Sorry for stealing him away, I know you two were in the middle of a visit."

Rowan scoffed. "Take him! Don't worry about it, I wanna get ready for bed anyway."

"Don't be so choked up that I'm leaving," Jack smirked.

Rowan rolled her eyes and said dryly, "Once again, my life is _so_ empty without you, Jack, I will be counting down the moments, waiting by my window with bated breath for your return."

"She's lost without me," Jack muttered to Tooth, gesturing to Rowan. Tooth simply laughed as Rowan rolled her eyes yet again.

_"Goodbye Jack,"_ Rowan said, gesturing to her window.

"Come on, we've got lots to talk about," Tooth said.

"All right, all right," Jack said, reaching over and ruffling Rowan's hair further than the tooth fairies had earlier. She swatted his hand away but smiled.

"Goodbye, Rowan," Tooth said. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too," Rowan said.

"Until next time," Jack said, offering the girl a smile as he hovered beside Tooth. The next instant, he followed Tooth out the window, sending a gust of wind to close it behind him, as he usually did. Rowan stood at the window, watching them until they disappeared from sight.


	13. Filling In The Blanks

A/N: I'm sorry that there wasn't a chapter last week, everyone. Because of my grandmother's death there's just been a lot going on and I think I'm finally in a place where I can sit and really write and draw again (again, you can see my artwork by visiting the links on my profile!). Anyway, I'm glad you guys seem to have enjoyed the last chapter! This one is the first one where anything really sort of resembling action happens and I hope it works out. As far as Melpomene and Yelena go? Well, you will all find out more in due time, promise!

* * *

_"The Muses are terrible gossips."_

_"Great. How much do you know? Who else knows?"_

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Filling In The Blanks**

* * *

"Why don't we start with what you _do_ know about the Muses?" Tooth whispered as she and Jack entered a young girl's room to retrieve her tooth, quarter in hand.

"I know that there are nine of them," Jack said in hushed tones as Tooth slid the molar from beneath the pillow, tucked away in a small plastic box. She opened the small box to take the tooth, replacing it with the quarter before closing the box and setting it back beneath the girl's pillow.

They returned to the window, creeping through as Jack continued. "I know that they all have the power to inspire people at will, but they all have things that they are the best at inspiring."

"Sort of _their_ center," Tooth said with a nod as they flew off to find another child waiting for a visit from her. "Do you know which center goes with which Muse?"

"Calliope is the Muse of epic poetry," Jack said.

"She's also taken to novels in recent years," Tooth added.

"Urania is astronomy. So, she hangs around more scientific people than creative people," Jack continued.

"And serves as a messenger between the Guardians and the Muses," Tooth said.

"Right. Thalia is comedy, Melpomene is tragedy, Erato is love poetry… this is where it starts getting foggy. Clio is history?" Jack questioned as they landed at another window sill and began to enter another room.

"All correct," Tooth said, sliding a quarter beneath the slumbering boy's pillow after retrieving his maxillary canine. "Polyhymnia?"

Jack stared at her blankly.

"Come on, Jack, Poly_hymn_ia?" Tooth whispered.

"Oh! Hymns, right," Jack said.

"Euterpe is song and Terpsichore is dance," Tooth said, leading the way out of the window, flying high into the air to head for the next town. Jack quickly caught up with her.

"Do you know how someone becomes a Muse?" Tooth asked running her hand across some clouds as they passed.

"The sun chooses them?" Jack asked.

"Sort of, all Muses start off as ordinary, mortal women," Tooth explained.

"Isn't that how most of us start out? I mean, those of us that follow Manny."

"Well, not always. Many of us _started out_ as immortal creatures, and the Man in the Moon keeps an eye on all of us, some of us become Guardians," Tooth said. "You died to make a transition from mortal to immortal. That's not common."

"Really?" Jack asked.

"Bunny, North and I… none of us have experienced death firsthand. Sandy hadn't either until the incident with Pitch a few months ago," Tooth said. "And outside of the Guardians, I mean, obviously the Horseman was a mortal that died before he was chosen to live on as the spirit of Horror, but the leprechaun, Cupid, the groundhog…"

"So the Muses don't start off immortal," Jack said.

"No. That's something you have in common, actually, all the Muses have died to become what they are," Tooth said, sliding inside another, rather narrow, window, with Jack squeezing in behind her. "But Manny chose to preserve the best in you, to grant you immortality because you died guarding a child's life. The sun doesn't really work that way."

"So, how does a random mortal woman become a Muse, then?" Jack whispered, jumping slightly as he noticed a cat perched on the bookshelf he'd been hovering by. The cat watched him, disapproval clear on its face.

"It's not random, have you ever heard of the Mortal Muse?" Tooth asked, returning from the child's bed with the incisor held gently in her hand. The cat hissed at the two of them.

"I haven't," Jack mumbled back, eyes still on the cat. He and Tooth each swerved to opposite sides as the feline leaped forward. It landed on the ground, swiping at the two with its claws, hissing still.

"Calm down, kitty, we're on our way out," Tooth whispered to the cat, who was not calmed by this statement in the least. The pair quickly squeezed through the window again, closing the glass quickly to prevent the cat from pursuing them. It sat at the window, glaring at the two of them as they flew off.

"So the Mortal Muse," Jack said.

"Right, well, not just anyone can become a Muse, you have to be a Mortal Muse," Tooth said. "A Mortal Muse is a mortal woman who possessed the powers of a Muse to inspire. However, the Mortal Muse cannot control her powers and most times doesn't even know she has them."

"So how does she inspire people, then?"

"Sometimes by talking to them, or touching them," Tooth explained. "She can bump into someone on the street and they could get their next great idea simply from that. The more intimate the action, the greater the inspiration. A kiss would inspire more than a handshake, but because the powers of a Mortal Muse are so unstable, sometimes these actions won't inspire anything at all. It's very random."

"So once she dies she gets full control over her powers and becomes a full fledged Muse?" Jack asked.

"Not always. I mean, it's only happened nine times," Tooth pointed out. "No, the death part is very specific. They have to die in a way that's _inspiring_. Most of the time, that means it's an early, unexpected, tragic death."

"So, old age won't do it," Jack said.

"Sickness won't, in most cases, either," Tooth nodded.

"So, something like, being murdered would work?" Jack asked.

"Depends on the murder, the sun evaluates the deaths and he's usually very picky. It has to be something that really warrants immortality. A great tragedy, a good mystery, something heart-wrenching."

"A story people will keep telling," Jack said.

"Exactly," Tooth said. "So, if the Mortal Muse dies in an inspiring enough way, a year after the death, in a great burst of light, she will be reborn as a Muse."

"A _year?"_

"One full revolution around the sun," said Tooth. "During that year there is no Mortal Muse. After that, a new one is soon born regardless of the fate of the previous one."

"Huh, well that's all very dramatic," Jack said.

"It kind of is, isn't it? But it's important you know about the Mortal Muse, because that was what the meeting was about earlier," Tooth said. "The Shadow People are looking for her, because her powers will be the easiest to take."

"So who is it?" Jack asked.

"We don't know, Calliope is searching for her as we speak," Tooth explained. "Once we find her, she'll have to be placed under protection while we figure out what to do about the Shadow People."

"I hate to say it, and I mean I _really_ hate to say it, but Melpomene might have had a point about Pitch knowing more about the darkness than the rest of us."

"I agree," Tooth said hesitantly. "But North is right, he can't be trusted. I feel like many things will have to go wrong before we consult him."

"I'm not arguing with that, if I never see him again it'll be too soon."

Tooth settled down on the roof of a nearby house, Jack taking a seat beside her. "Now, let's see, what else should I go over with you? Oh! Can the Muses be seen by mortals?"

"No," Jack said, shaking his head.

"Incorrect," Tooth said, smiling softly at him. "The Muses, unlike those of us that follow the moon, do not rely on belief in order to be seen by mortals. They _choose_ whether or not to reveal themselves. However, all other immortal beings, as well as the Mortal Muse, can always see the Muses."

"Well, I got some bad information," Jack mumbled.

"From Melpomene?" Tooth asked. Jack winced at the name. "I… know you two have history."

"How?" Jack asked.

"The Muses are terrible gossips," Tooth said gently, offering him a small smile.

"Great. How much do you know? Who _else_ knows?" Jack said, avoiding eye contact with the fairy, choosing instead to stare at the street light across the way.

"The other Guardians don't know, if that's what you mean. I doubt Calliope told Sandy, I don't think she likes talking about you more than she has to. And as far as what I know? Well-"

"What's that?" Jack said suddenly, pointing to the street light he'd been watching. Tooth turned to see what he was talking about, finding that the streetlight had begun violently flickering, a strange, dark figure lurking near the base, careful to avoid the light. Finally, the light went out and the figure moved on to the next one. Emerging from the shadows nearby came other dark figures, following the first one.

They moved with a certain grace, blurred silhouettes of what might be something human, like walking smoke. It was too dark to determine whether they were parts of the shadows themselves, or separate entities entirely.

"Shadow People," Tooth whispered. Before she could utter another word, Jack immediately flew forward, landing on the fence near the figures.

"Jack!" Tooth hissed before quickly flying after him, landing beside him on the fence. The Shadow People seemed to pay them little mind as they continued down the street.

"Well, let's see what these guys can do," Jack said, lifting his staff and taking aim. Tooth set her hand on his and immediately shook her head.

"If all they're doing is traveling, maybe we should just observe them," she whispered. "Instead of _starting_ a fight."

Before Jack could respond, he swore he saw someone walk by in the corner of his eye. He turned away from Tooth to see who it was, and found no one there. Tooth suddenly turned as well, as though she had seen something too.

Jack quickly glanced back to where the Shadow People had previously been and found that they were no longer there. Another flash in the corner of his eyes. He turned around again.

"Tooth?" Jack said.

"Yeah?"

"What if _they_ start a fight?"

"Take no prisoners," she said simply, exchanging nervous glances with Jack.

The flashes of _something_ darting in and out of their vision became more frequent and the two huddled close together, watching carefully and waiting for a cue to do something.

Jack was suddenly knocked from his perch on the fence, landing clumsily to the pavement. He groaned at impact, readjusting his grip on his staff before turning back to face where he had just been standing. Tooth had flown over to his side and was now also watching as the tall, dark figure approached them, several others following close behind.

They had no faces, simply darker shadows where features should be. Their bodies, if they could be called bodies at all, as they didn't seem very solid, behaved almost like liquid. They twisted and contracted to maneuver around the fence and between buildings.

The front figure lunged forward at Jack, shadows twisting around his face, consuming his vision in darkness. Tooth flew to her friend, attempting to tear the Shadow Person away, finding that her hands simply slid right off the creature.

"I can't get a grip on it!" she groaned, Jack trying and failing to do the same, grasping at the darkness around him. His muffled groans could be heard.

More Shadow People approached, and Tooth flew forward, hoping to slice through them with her wings, the same strategy she had used with the nightmares. She turned back after flying through their approaching forms and found only the smallest figures had begun fading away to nothing, the others still pursuing Jack.

Rushing back to the winter spirit, Tooth hooked her arms around his waist and pulled him back. She couldn't get a grip on the Shadow People but she knew she could keep hold of Jack. Flying back, she managed to pull him away from the black mass already in contact with him.

Jack shook his head, gripping the sides of it as soon as he was pulled back.

"Are you okay?" Tooth asked, setting the two of them back down on the roof they had been sitting on earlier.

"I feel like I'm gonna be sick," Jack said, closing his eyes and swallowing before pulling himself, shaking, back to his feet in time for the Shadow People to begin scaling the side of the house to reach the roof. They seemed to melt into the walls of the house, becoming little more than actual shadows as they moved.

Tooth took Jack's arm as she flew higher above the roof. Unsteady, he flew with her, eyes fixed on the figures, now standing upright on the roof.

"I don't think they can fly," Tooth said.

_"I_ barely can right now," Jack said. Tooth tightened her grip on his arm.

"What did it do to you?" she asked, watching as the Shadow People attempted to stretch to reach the two of them. She flew higher, taking Jack with her.

"All I could see was darkness, it… it was like when Manny first brought me back, it was just dark and cold and," he hesitated. "I was scared. There was just this terrible feeling of dread."

He pulled his arm away from Tooth, finding that he could fly a bit steadier now.

"It looks like you're recovering pretty quickly, though," Tooth observed. "You look less sick."

"Feel less sick," he mumbled before diving back down toward the roof where the Shadow People were waiting for him.

"Jack what are you doing!?" Tooth called, flying after him. Taking aim with his staff, Jack let out a cry as he sent a blast of cold and ice at the figures. Some of the smaller ones disappeared under the blast, but the others simply darted away from the light and absorbed the shards of ice. They hid, melting into the side of the house until the light fully disappeared, before slinking back to the roof.

"I don't think we can fight them like the Nightmares, Jack, I tried already," Tooth said, flying beside him as he circled the roof.

"Some of them went down," Jack replied.

"Yeah, the small ones!" Tooth said.

"I want to try something," Jack said, diving back in the center of the group of shadow people, illuminating his staff as he went. He landed heavily in the center of the group, bringing down his staff as though hoping to slice through their forms. The eerie blue light shone brightly, causing Jack to wince and close his eyes.

When the light died down, he opened his eyes and found Tooth lowering her arms, which she had put in front of her eyes to keep from looking directly into the light.

The Shadow People were gone.

"It worked!" Tooth cheered, rushing forward and embracing Jack. "They're gone! How'd you do that?"

"It was the same attack, but without the ice," Jack said, twirling his staff about in his hand proudly.

"What kind of light is that?" she asked.

"I don't know, magic winter staff light?" Jack suggested with a shrug.

"Well, whatever it is, it got rid of them. They were shying away from the street light earlier but it looks like electricity isn't strong enough on its own to keep them at bay," Tooth said, examining the area for clues or Shadow People that might have decided to hide.

"We might have to borrow some of the moonbeams too, if light's all that working in our favor right now," Jack said.

"Like Urania said, though, they're only as strong as the phase of the moon at the time," Tooth said. "Let's head back to the palace, it's daylight there and I have to direct more of my fairies."

"Shouldn't we head to the pole and let North know what we found out?" Jack asked, flying with Tooth as she began heading toward her palace, careful to stay high above the ground.

"I don't know that it's worth calling a meeting, and North is finally taking some time to _sleep_ so I don't want to disturb that," she said. "But I will send my fairies to deliver a message, the Yetis should be able to understand them and relay it to North."

"And the others?" Jack asked.

"We'll figure that out once we get there," she replied.

* * *

"So you can't get a hold on them at all?" Bunny asked, having arrived at Tooth Palace minutes earlier to find out what Tooth and Jack had to say.

The palace was as grand as ever, having undergone many repairs as soon as children began to believe in Tooth again. The fairies fluttered to and fro, busy as ever. They stopped occasionally to greet Jack, who had taken a seat on the platform where this small meeting was being held. He'd begun feeling dizzy again once he arrived back to the palace, and Tooth had suggested that his quick recovery earlier had been due to adrenaline that was now wearing down.

"It's like trying to grab onto smoke or water," Tooth said, shaking her head.

"They had a pretty good grip on _me_ though," Jack added. "Hate to think what would have happened if Tooth hadn't pulled me away."

"Definitely not something to face on your own, then," Bunny said.

"Not if you don't have some strong light source with you," Tooth said. "I don't think they're quite strong enough to take our powers away entirely but definitely strong enough to make it nearly impossible to fight back for a while. They're either attacking with no regard to the target or they _know_ about our alliance with the Muses."

"Do North and Sandy know about what happened?"

"I sent fairies to tell both of them and as many of the Muses as they could find," Tooth said.

"Sandy might be okay because his sand glows," Jack said. "But I have no idea if your boomerangs or North's swords will work against them."

"And to find out at this point you'd have to actually try it," Tooth said. "Which would be dangerous right now."

"Pitch would know," Bunny grumbled, obviously as unhappy as the others that Melpomene was right about something. "But asking him is a bigger risk, I'd wager."

A few of the small fairies approached Tooth, squeaking rapidly, prompting her to nod along before directing them after some teeth. She turned back to the other Guardians.

"Sandy and North have been informed. They also found all of the Muses except Urania, since she's with the stars right now," she said.

"Did they happen to find out how Calliope's search is going?" Jack asked.

"She's still looking, no luck yet," Tooth said.

"I can't believe we're getting mixed up with a Mortal Muse again," Bunny said, shaking his head slightly.

"Again?" Jack asked. Tooth shot Bunny a look and Bunny fidgeted slightly.

"We've, well, dealt with a few before," the overgrown rabbit said vaguely.

Jack glanced between the two older Guardians, who avoided eye contact with him, and said, "Okay, but that's not what you meant."

"It's not really our place, Jack, it's something for you to talk to North about if anything," Tooth said.

"That's what I told him as soon as he started breaking into that sheila's apartment," Bunny sighed.

"You didn't say anything about talking to North about Mortal _Muses_, just mortals in general," Jack pointed out.

"It's nice to know that you _are_ listening to me, just choosing to ignore everything I suggest," Bunny said, rolling his eyes. "Mortal Muses _are_ mortal unless they die the right way. Getting close to them is just as bad."

"Speaking of mortals, do you spend a lot of time visiting Rowan Sawyer?" Tooth said suddenly, hoping to change the subject.

"He was there _again?"_ Bunny said.

"Are we _really_ going over this again? It's getting old, I'm not going to stop spending time with mortals, my job isn't _like_ the rest of yours, I don't intend on hiding out," Jack said defensively, finally bringing himself back up to his feet.

"We're just trying-!" Bunny started.

"Bunny, why don't you let me try talking to him?" Tooth asked.

"Fine, maybe _you'll_ get through to him," Bunny said, tapping his foot on the platform until one of his tunnels appeared. "Good luck, you're gonna need it."

In the next instant, Bunny disappeared through his tunnel, leaving only a tulip in his wake. Tooth hovered over to Jack and offered him a small smile.

"Mortals are just going to die and getting attached will only end badly for me, I've heard it already, Tooth," Jack said, annoyance clear in his voice.

"I'm not going to tell you to stop spending time with Rowan," she said gently. "I'm just curious… how much time _do_ you spend there?"

"I don't know, I've visited a handful of times," he said with a shrug. "Why?"

"She mustn't become a distraction, it _is_ winter and you have other things to do," Tooth pointed out, waving off some of the mini fairies that had stopped nearby to eavesdrop.

"I'm still doing what I've always done, I've just got some friends now," Jack said.

"Is that all she is, a friend?" Tooth asked hesitantly.

"Of course," Jack said, finding that Tooth looked quite relieved the moment the words passed his lips. "I mean, we've known each other maybe a week?"

"That's good, because I hate to say it, Jack, but Bunny's right. I know you love these mortals and all, but getting too attached will only lead to heartache for you, and it'll only be worse if you start something with this girl."

"So, don't propose marriage to her, got it," Jack said with a laugh. "If we're being totally honest here, dating _anyone,_ immortal or not, can end really badly."

"That's true. I'm, um, not sure she's your type anyway," Tooth said with a smile.

"Oh no, is there something wrong with her teeth?" Jack asked, feigning seriousness.

"Actually braces did wonders for her," Tooth laughed. "She seems a bit _serious_, is all."

"She's a challenge, but I can make her have fun," he said. Tooth's smile faltered only for an instant at this statement.

"Well, you _are_ the Guardian of Fun," she said.

"She could use some fun," he said. "And I like her stories. Don't worry about it, it's all harmless."

"I trust you, Jack," Tooth said, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder. "Just know that Bunny and North _are_ trying to look out for you. I know it feels like they're trying boss you around but it all really _is_ because we care and don't want you hurt."

"I know, and I mean, I appreciate that you all care so much, but it's an adjustment. I've gone centuries only relying on myself, and I think I know what I can and can't handle," he said.

"You're family now, Jack, we're all going to keep caring and worrying," she said. "Whether you want us to or not."


	14. Progress

A/N: Guess who gets a double update? YOU GUYS DO. Because I love you, my wonderful readers, and I still feel bad about the lack of chapter two weeks ago. So, double update! Hopefully I can figure out chapter sixteen in time for next week! Also, gonna respond to a few reviews:

**Sky65**, Thank you for your kind words! I'm comforted slightly by the fact that she and my grandpa are together again. **soaringphoenix86**, I will be discussing Jack's staff more in later chapters! It _is_ able to destroy the Shadow People (I probably wasn't very clear that they had been destroyed rather than chased off), but it is only one weapon and not efficient enough to be the only thing they rely on. **seldomselcouth**, thank you for your comments about Tooth! I did not want to simply disregard the friendship that she and Jack had in the film, but as this won't be a Frostbite fic I was still worried about how to portray her.

Thank you again for the reviews, I appreciate and read all of them! xoxo

* * *

_"I always think it must be lonely being an only child."_

_"I had a lot of imaginary friends. I guess not much has changed._

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Progress**

* * *

"Oh, Mr. Black," Melpomene purred as she appeared in the dark, crooked lair of the Nightmare King. It was devastatingly silent, her footsteps providing the only sound as she crept through the limited lighting, mask held loosely in her slender hand.

"I thought you were condemned to the daylight," came a bored voice from somewhere within the shadows. Melpomene glanced around the lair briefly before Pitch emerged from the shadows before her, revealing himself at last. He moved with the same grace as always, appearing to float rather than walk, but his pace had slowed considerably. His face was gaunt and his eyes were dim.

It was almost painful just to see, the weakness displayed in the man. If he could be called a man at all, that is.

"You know I can never stay away from the dark for long," she said, smiling up at him, being but a few inches shorter. Tucking away her mask, she reached forward and slid her arms around his neck, pulling him close. "I've missed you, Pitch."

He lightly rested his own hands on her hips, resting his weary head against hers, neglecting to respond vocally to her statement.

"You seem to have gotten worse since I last saw you," she fussed, lightly brushing her lips against his jaw. "It hasn't been that long, what's happened?"

"Ha!" he said, prying himself away from her grasp and approaching his copy of North's globe, eyes fixed on the dimming lights. "It's ridiculous! The lights imply faltering belief and yet I remain weak."

"The Shadow People? Shouldn't them inducing fear be _helping_ you?" Melpomene asked, moving to stand beside him.

"One would think," Pitch said. "It would appear that the Shadow People are hurting _me_ as much as they intend to hurt the Muses and the Guardians, which is likely just an added bonus for those despicable creatures."

"I don't understand," Melpomene said, brow furrowed.

"They frighten the children to the point where they will not go to bed, and if they don't sleep, they can't have nightmares," Pitch said. "But that's the least of my worries. As they destroy a person's spirit, they're left an empty shell. They can no longer feel joy or the urge to create, which is, of course, what worries you Muses and your little alliance."

Melpomene chose not to comment on Pitch's obvious distaste toward her associating with his sworn enemies and instead waited for him to continue in his explanation.

"However, they can no longer feel fear or an urge to destroy, either. They're left feeling empty and desperate, simply sad. That's of no use to me, there's no passion there like there is in fear," Pitch said.

"You are too weak to fight them, but the Guardians are not," Melpomene said, stepping in front of him and blocking his immediate view of the globe. "Negotiate with them, _you_ know how to fight them!"

"I would sooner renounce my powers all together," Pitch sneered, turning away from the woman.

"You're heading straight there," Melpomene hissed, following him as he moved away from her. "The Guardians have no idea how to approach these things, they need your help but won't admit it. And if the Shadow People aren't taken care of, you'll only grow weaker. You need _their_ help, too."

"How exactly do you picture this working out?" Pitch snapped. "Do you suppose I'll just waltz right into the North Pole and cut a deal with them?"

"Why not?" she asked. "You have an advantage, _you know more about the darkness_. They need that information, and as the attacks grow in numbers, they're going to get more desperate."

"It's _adorable_, the way you discuss this as though it's all to benefit me and the Guardians, all while leaving out the fact that the Shadow People are out to get _you,"_ Pitch said, crossing his arms and staring at her, unamused.

"They're after the Mortal Muse, not me," Melpomene said. "They'll only be a threat to me and the others if they get powerful enough to actually take a full-fledged Muse's powers away."

"Ah, yes, the Mortal Muse, who is it this time?" Pitch said, rolling his eyes at the thought.

"We're not sure, Calliope is looking for her now," Melpomene said. She smiled slightly, sliding her arm around Pitch once more. "It's a shame you don't want in on this alliance, even if it was only temporarily. Imagine having access to a powerful mortal like that! Giving her a nightmare, with how vivid the Mortal Muse's imagination is, would increase your strength tenfold."

Pitch remained silent, brow furrowed as he considered what Melpomene said.

"Just think about it for me, Pitch?" she whispered, running her fingers down the side of his neck and glancing up at him through her lashes coquettishly. "It would benefit all of us to get rid of the Shadow People."

"We'll see," was all he said.

* * *

"Yeah, today we critiqued the whole time. If you think people can't talk about still life paintings for six hours, you'd be mistaken," Rowan said, holding her phone to her ear with her right hand while she unraveled the braids in her hair with her left hand. The only light on in her apartment was the lamp on her bedside table.

"Mine went well, I know I passed, I just don't know if I managed to pull off an A or not," she continued, setting the clear elastic bands that had held her braids together beside the base of the lamp. "I think I did but I don't want to jinx it."

There was a tap on her window and Rowan was unsurprised to find a certain white-haired boy waiting on the other side to be let in. She smiled in greeting before unlocking the window and pulling it open. As he climbed inside, she pointed to her cell phone before holding up her hand like a puppet and opening and closing the puppet's "mouth" several times to indicate that whoever she was talking to was talking quite a bit.

Jack snickered before nodding understandingly and closing the window behind him.

"Yeah, I don't have any studio classes tomorrow so I should get out earlier, it's just art history…. Right… uh-huh," Rowan said, glancing at Jack and mouthing, 'She just keeps talking!'

"Take your time, I have nowhere to be," Jack laughed, leaning against her counter.

"All right, well, it's getting late, I'll talk to you later? … Okay… I will. … All right… Goodnight, Mom, love you too." Rowan pulled the phone from her ear and hung it up before walking over to her bedside table and plugging it into the charger.

"Aw, keeping your mommy updated, that's very nice," Jack teased.

"She's very committed to mothering me from another state," Rowan said, rolling her eyes.

"Which other state?" Jack asked.

"Massachusetts," Rowan said. "I mean, I was born in Burgess and we lived there until I was like four but I went to school and grew up in Massachusetts."

"So why'd you come to school here? I mean, wouldn't New York be a more obvious choice?" Jack asked. New York and California were where the biggest art communities in the country were, after all.

"Yeah, and I mean, I looked into some schools there. It would be great to go to school in New York City and be in the middle of everything but it's also _so_ expensive," Rowan said, settling herself down on her bed as she spoke. "Besides, I have family here in Pennsylvania, even if they are a few hours away. And I liked the campus here, it was a bit less overwhelming."

Jack nodded, her reasons proving to be logical enough. "Going home for Christmas?"

_"Weather permitting," _Rowan said, casting him a critical glance.

"I _guess_ I could give you decent driving conditions," Jack chuckled.

"Good, because I miss my mom's cooking," Rowan said, pushing her hair back out of her eyes as she yawned. She wore an over-sized band shirt and some gray sweat pants, having been getting ready for bed before her mother called.

"You mean instant noodles aren't doing it for you?"

"Not so much," she smiled. "Didn't see you yesterday, did your Muse lesson take that long?"

"Aw, did you miss me?" Jack teased. "Nah, Shadow People causing trouble. Proved to be very distracting."

"Did you take care of them?"

"More or less," Jack said vaguely. "And don't avoid my question, _did you miss me?"_

"I just realized last night how _quiet_ it is when you're not around."

"You _did_ miss me!"

"I didn't say that."

"There's some major denial happening here," Jack said with a cheeky grin.

Rowan responded with a roll of the eyes, something she felt herself doing quite a bit around this boy. She wondered if he could even be called a 'boy' still, being over three hundred years old. He felt like a peer.

"Did I miss anything important yesterday? I mean, besides you missing me," Jack asked.

"I called Jamie and told him more of my story," Rowan said with a shrug. Jack frowned, his shoulders slumping at this statement.

"You told the next part of the story without me there to eavesdrop? That's not okay!" he said, very clearly insulted that this had happened.

"Oh come on, sit down, I'll tell you the next part now," Rowan said, patting the side of the bed she was currently not sitting on. "Well, on one condition, anyway."

"You and your conditions," Jack sighed, sitting cross-legged across from her, his staff resting against her bedside table.

"You never told me how you became Jack Frost," Rowan said, crossing her arms before her.

"Okay, but it's your turn. I told the last story, the whole thing with Pitch," Jack pointed out.

"You did," she acknowledged. "But how many stories had _I_ told before that?"

Jack sighed and seemed to debate mentally for a moment about whether or not to tell her about how he became Jack Frost.

"You could always tell me what happened with Mel-whatever-her-name-was instead," Rowan said in a sing-song voice.

"So it was winter, I mean, obviously," Jack said suddenly, hoping to distract from Melpomene and what may or may not have gone on between them. "My little sister got me up early because I had promised her we'd go ice skating."

"Aw, you had a little sister?" Rowan said, absentmindedly pulling her hair into a braid. "You hadn't mentioned that before."

"Yeah, we were about eight years apart, her name was Emmeline, I called her Emmy," Jack said with a smile. "You have any brothers or sisters?"

Rowan shook her head. "Nah, my parents had issues conceiving; Mom miscarried another pregnancy before me. Jamie and Sophie are the closest things I've got to siblings."

"I always think it must be lonely being an only child," Jack more mumbled than actually said.

"I had a lot of imaginary friends," Rowan said. She smirked and playfully shoved at his shoulder. "I guess not much has changed."

"Aw, see, we _are_ friends," he laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, just tell me the story," she said.

"All right. Anyway, we got dressed and got our skates, I think hers were a Christmas gift, and headed out to the lake…"

Rowan listened intently as Jack told the story. It was not a long one, nor did very much happen. But his words (as well as her curiosity since their initial meeting) held her captive all the same. As the story came to a close, he watched her expectantly, waiting for any kind of reaction.

"You played hopscotch with your little sister _every day?"_ was the first thing Rowan said.

"Really? _That's_ what you took from this?" Jack said, making a face.

Rowan laughed a little, "Well, it's just-"

"You know, this is a really personal story, I don't really need you being like 'look at this pansy, playing hopscotch with little kids,'" Jack said.

"I don't think you're a pansy! Don't put words in my mouth!" Rowan said, ceasing in her laughter but smiling all the same. "I think it's _adorable_ that you played hopscotch with your little sister every day. It's not something I expected from you."

"I've gone from fearless Guardian to _adorable_ in one story- Wait, you just admitted that I'm cute," Jack said, that smug smirk returning to his face as quickly as it had disappeared.

"I admitted no such thing," Rowan said, leaning back against her pillows with a roll of the eyes.

"You think I'm adorable," Jack said in a sing-song voice, mocking the way Rowan had taunted him earlier. "And you missed me while I was gone."

"I think the behavior you expressed when you were a human being three hundred years ago was adorable, yes. So, there you go, I acknowledge that at one point in your very long life, you were cute, I said nothing about right now," Rowan said.

"Denial, denial, denial," Jack said, shaking his head. "But seriously, I tell you how I saved my sister and you think, 'Hopscotch! How cute!'?"

"Well, how do you react to someone telling you, 'oh yeah, I fell through the ice and drowned?' It's… bizarre," Rowan said. "It's strange, though, you seem much less concerned with the fact that you actually died than the fact that you saved her."

"It always seemed like the more important part," Jack said with a shrug.

_"That_ is what's surprising about you, Jack Frost," Rowan said. "You actually care about people. You're smug and conceited-"

"Yeah, yeah, and my ears are too big," Jack said with a roll of the eyes.

"You're annoying as all hell… but at the end of the day, you care about people, you're a decent person," she said, beginning to braid her hair again. "I like knowing that about you. It makes me feel better about Jamie being around you."

"Aw, you like me," Jack chuckled. Rowan rolled her eyes yet again. "It's your turn, tell me the next part of your story."

"Fine, fine," Rowan said, crawling under her blankets. She felt the cold much more strongly now that Jack was sitting so close and she wasn't wearing layers, as she had every other time they were around each other. "So the night of the full moon was finally there, and after everyone went to bed, Jack and Miss Gates began their prowl around the house to collect their riches."

"This should be good," Jack said.

"Miss Gates led the way, dressed in men's clothes that she had obtained from the wash, as they were easier to move quickly in. Jack proved himself useful when it came to locks that Miss Gates didn't have a key for. She'd never admit it, but she admired the way he could quickly pick a lock. They took fine silver and candlesticks that cost more than Miss Gates made in a month. They crept quietly into the bedrooms and they stole gold cufflinks and the majority of the jewelry belonging to the lady of the house. All their treasures were tucked away in a sack, and Miss Gates had gotten a horse from the stables for escape.

"While Miss Gates prepared the horse to be ridden, Jack fiddled with a sword that he had retrieved from the Governor's collection. He had never handled a sword so exquisite in his life, and almost felt guilty about taking it. But he knew he might need some sort of weapon when it came to facing the sea witch.

"As Miss Gates secured the sack with their winnings to the horse, Jack suddenly asked, 'Why is there only one horse? If we're stealing one, we might as well steal two, what difference will it make?' Miss Gates simply climbed atop the saddle and smiled down at Jack.

"'I only need one,' was her answer. 'You've been such a great help, Jack, and I will never forget that, but I must be going.'"

_"What,"_ Jack said, eyes wide. "She was playing him the whole time?"

Rowan laughed a bit. "Jack, the pirate, had a similar reaction. He watched her, mouth agape as she rode off with the treasure he'd helped her obtain. Treasure _he_ had planned on taking and then ditching _her_ so he could summon the sea witch. Quickly, he rushed back into the stables to prepare his own horse to pursue her with. She couldn't get far, after all, they were on an island."

"By the time he mounted his own horse, she had, of course, disappeared. He rode down to the docks, knowing they were her best hope at escape. Jack had expected to find her attempting to steal a ship when he approached."

"But she wasn't?" Jack asked, hooked on her every word.

"No, she was standing at the edge of the dock, having let the horse wander off elsewhere. Holding up one of the Governor's wife's fine, gold necklaces, she seemed to be saying something before dropping the necklace into the water.

"Jack abandoned the horse he had taken to rush across the dock, Miss Gates turning at the sound of his approaching footsteps. 'Go away!' she demanded as the water below them began to bubble.

"'Why are _you_ summoning the sea witch?' Jack said, grabbing for the golden candlestick from within the sack and tossing it in after the necklace she'd thrown.

"'What do you mean, why are _you_ trying to summon her?' was Miss Gate's hasty response. 'Get out of here, I have important things to discuss with her.'

"Before Jack could reply that he had important things to discuss with the sea witch as well, an enormous figure burst forth from the water, standing tall and menacing while looking down upon them. She had large, bulging eyes like a fish, webbed hands and scales. Her hair was lanky, soaked, and black, sticking to her skin now that she had left the water.

"'I knew you two would show up at some point, I just never expected you to arrive together,' she said.

"'I didn't either,' Miss Gates said, glaring at Jack who began to argue that Miss Gates wouldn't have gotten half of her treasure if it weren't for his help. She began to retort that he wouldn't know where any of the riches even _were_ in that household if it weren't for her.

"The sea witch grew impatient with their bickering and demanded their silence and to know why they summoned her. Miss Gates explained that she sought to break the curse placed on her mother, leaving her blind and ill. Jack wanted to break the curse that had been passed down to him, leaving him unlucky in just about everything he did. The sea witch simply smiled and said that if they both wanted their curses broken, they could work together to get her what she wanted."

"What did she want, then?" Jack asked, having remained quiet for quite a while now.

"Seven enchanted gems, scattered around the island chain and heavily guarded. She gave them the next full moon as a deadline and disappeared beneath the ocean's surface once more, taking the sack of treasures with her. Miss Gates sighed in frustration before rushing toward the nearby ship.

"Jack asked her where exactly she was going and she said they needed a ship if they expected to collect any of the gems off the other islands. Jack asked if she even knew where to start looking, and all Miss Gates could do was glare at the man in response.

"He gestured for her to follow him back toward the horses and said, 'We'll go to see a friend of mine, she should have more information for us.'"

"The first witch," Jack said.

"Exactly," Rowan said. "Miss Gates hesitated if only for a moment before falling into step beside him. He asked what her first name was, if only because he felt as though at this point, after she double-crossed him and now that they were supposed to be working together, they should at least be on a first name basis. She told him that her name was Anne, and then urged him to lead the way already, they didn't have a lot of time."

Rowan yawned before stating, "And that's all I have. For now."

"Damn it," Jack mumbled. "You always do this when it's getting good."

Rowan laughed. "Well, I can't plan the whole thing in one sitting!"

"Yeah but that ended way too early," Jack sighed. "You should tell another one or something."

Rowan rested her head against her pillows and said, "Why don't _you_ tell another one? You're over three centuries old, you have to have some good ones. Besides, it's your turn."

"Aren't you a bit old for bedtime stories?" Jack teased.

"Aren't _you?"_ she replied, returning his smirk.

She certainly had a point, there.

Jack remained silent for a moment, mulling over the past few centuries for a story (preferably one without Melpomene) that he could tell.

"How do you feel about war stories?"


	15. Complications

A/N: Second half of the double update! Something important (but not necessarily unexpected) happens in this one!

* * *

_"Oh, that was convincing, were you going through my stuff again?"_

_ "After what happened last time? Of course not."_

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Complications**

* * *

"War stories?" Rowan repeated. So _many_ wars had happened in the past three hundred years. Of course Jack would have some good war stories, depending on how involved with all of them he was. Her mind raced with events she had learned about in school, wondering if Jack had gotten to experience them firsthand.

"I'd love to hear a war story," she said.

"It was Christmas Eve, 1914, World War I," Jack said. He paused, looking down at Rowan and saying, "Are you sleeping _already?"_

"Resting my eyes," Rowan said, opening one brown eye to glance back up at him. "Keep talking, I'm listening."

Jack rolled his eyes before continuing. "So, it was Christmas Eve, 1914. I didn't spend a lot of time on the war front. I'd seen quite a few wars in my time but the World Wars definitely earned their titles. But something drew me to no man's land and the trenches that day."

"Trenches were supposed to be pretty bad," Rowan mumbled, eyes still closed.

"They were," Jack said. "They were damp and cold and I'm sure me being there wasn't helping matters. But it _was_ Christmas, so the soldiers were attempting to celebrate, no shots were being fired. They were lighting candles and some of them were decorating makeshift trees. Someone in the German camp started singing Christmas carols and I stopped for a while to listen. My German's _still_ rusty but I knew the tune."

"You know some German?" Rowan asked.

"Nur sehr wenig… I _think_ that means 'very little,'" Jack said. _"North_ knows all sorts of languages. He even speaks flea, cat, dog… Talking to everyone's pets is how he knows if you've been naughty or nice."

"Huh, I was wondering about that. But yeah, you were eavesdropping on the Germans."

"Right. One of them started singing Christmas carols, and I thought his peers could use a bit of a nudge to get into the spirit. So I sent some snowflakes their way, with just enough magic to make them smile and join in.

"I made my way back to the British troops, you could still hear the Germans singing from their trenches. I was ready to try to get them to start caroling, too, when the Germans finished their song and the British began to applaud. Shortly after, they began singing their own carol, this one I understood. Some of them looked like it had been ages since the last time they had smiled."

Jack paused, watching Rowan who opened her eyes slightly to acknowledge that she was still awake and Jack should continue. "The Germans cheered for the British once their song had finished, and began yet another one of their own. When it came to be the British soldiers' turn again, the Germans joined in. It was so bizarre, watching these sworn enemies singing across no man's land with each other."

"I think I learned about this in history class in high school," Rowan mumbled, closing her eyes again. Jack smiled.

"The Germans called for the British to come over, promising not to shoot. The British, of course, weren't exactly ready to do that and suggested the Germans come over instead. Two Germans did just that, emerging from their trenches and asking to meet with an officer. I don't remember how the conversation went exactly, but it ended with them agreeing not to shoot until Christmas was over."

"The Christmas Truce," Rowan said.

"The Christmas Truce," Jack said, nodding his head, though Rowan's eyes were still closed. "Soldiers from both sides started climbing out of their trenches, meeting in the middle and conversing, shaking hands. It was amazing, but still… a bit boring."

Rowan sighed, "Oh man, what did you do to ruin the polite conversation?"

"I might have thrown a snowball at one of the Germans," Jack smiled. "The conditions of the truce were that no one was going to shoot anyone, not that there wouldn't be any friendly snowball fighting."

"So you caused a World War I snowball fight."

"Yeah, that one didn't make it into the history books," Jack said. "You should've seen all of them, though, these tough soldiers laughing and running around like little kids. There wasn't a clear winner, but none of them cared. I flew around both sides, giving them ammo and throwing more snowballs. I hit a few officers that were kind of hesitant to join in.

"As soon as the game settled down, they talked and traded supplies and souvenirs. I saw a lot of them trading buttons from their uniforms. A lot more of the Germans spoke English than the British spoke German, so there was a lot of conversation, a lot of laughs. For a handful of hours, they weren't the enemy, they were all just soldiers.

"It's one of my favorite war stories, because it's so easy to forget that the people fighting, allies or not, they're all _people_, regardless of flag or politics," he said, his mind quickly rushing back to that day in Antarctica with Pitch. Perhaps a Christmas Truce of their own was in store? The Guardians were still mostly lost when it came to the Shadow people.

He hated that he was considering this. Some Christmas carols would not be enough to settle the personal grudges held by everyone involved.

A lot of things didn't work out quite as nicely as the Christmas Truce of 1914 somehow had.

"Rowan?" Jack said, realizing they'd both been quiet for a while now. Rowan shifted only slightly, pulling at her blankets.

"Rowan," he said again, tapping her shoulder, which she had just covered with her blankets.

"Good story," she mumbled, eyes still closed. Jack watched her a moment more, her breathing becoming steady as she lay comfortably in her bed. Jack tapped her shoulder a few more times and received no response.

She'd fallen asleep. Understandable, it was getting late and she had class in the morning. Jack yawned himself, reaching over to turn off her lamp, but hesitating. There were Shadow People lurking around, after all, maybe leaving the lamp light on wouldn't be a terrible idea.

Pulling his hand back, he rubbed his eyes. When was the last time _he_ had slept? It had to have been before the whole thing with the Shadow People the night before last. He'd been too paranoid, worried that they'd find him in his sleep, consume him in the darkness again.

The vacant pillow beside Rowan's head seemed incredibly inviting.

"I'll just… rest my eyes for a minute," Jack mumbled to himself, lying down and setting his head on the pillow. It smelled nice, some sort of floral scent. It vaguely reminded him of the Warren. Rowan must have washed her bedding recently.

The fabric was soft and far more comfortable that he had expected, and the blankets, which he laid on top of, were rather comfortable as well. He had barely begun to consider that maybe he should get some sheets and a comforter for his mattress back at his cabin when he drifted off to sleep himself, unable to keep his eyes open any longer.

It couldn't have been more than a few hours when Jack awoke with a start, having heard the sound of Rowan's window opening. He cursed, remembering that he hadn't locked it when he closed it earlier. Without thinking much further he grabbed his staff and crept toward the figure climbing inside, his staff at the ready until, in the light of the moon and the dim lamp, it became apparent who was entering.

"What are you doing here?" Jack hissed at Calliope, careful to keep his voice low. Rowan would certainly not be pleased that some other mythical being was coming into her apartment unannounced and without permission.

Not to mention, he wasn't sure how she'd feel about the fact that he was _still in her apartment_ after she had fallen asleep hours before.

"What am I doing here?" Calliope repeated, her voice at a whisper as well. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I asked you first."

"You are _such_ a child," Calliope said, rolling her eyes. She held up the list in her hand. "I'm looking for the Mortal Muse."

"So why are you _here?"_ Jack asked again.

"She," Calliope said, gesturing to Rowan's sleeping form, "is next on my list."

"What?" Jack said. He shook his head almost immediately. Rowan? The Mortal Muse? The target of those soul-eating creatures? "No, no, it can't be _Rowan._"

"Is she the one you've been spying on?" Calliope said, raising a brow.

"None of your business," he snapped.

"I'll take that as a yes," Calliope said, unrolling the list to reveal several names that had already been crossed out and pointing to the next unmarked one. Jack took the list to better examine it and sighed. The next line read:

**Rowan Jean Sawyer: Nice / December 1 / Age: 20 / Pennsylvania, USA**

"She _would_ be on the nice list, Little Miss Cautious. It's not her," he whispered, handing Calliope back the list.

"I'll be the judge of that," Calliope said, approaching the bed and watching as Rowan slept on. "She's a Sagittarius, and it's not as though it's uncommon for a Muse to attract the attention of a Guardian."

"What are you going to do?" Jack said suspiciously, moving to stand between Rowan and the Muse. He chose not to comment on Rowan "attracting his attention." It was her stories, not her! Why was this so difficult for everyone else to grasp?

Still, he remained where he stood, unwilling to let Calliope do anything that might cause Rowan harm.

"I'm not going to hurt her, I just need to touch her for a moment, she won't even know," Calliope said, pushing Jack aside and examining Rowan critically. She leaned over, pushing some of the girl's bangs from her face, causing Rowan to swat at Calliope's hand in her sleep.

Gently, Calliope set her hand against Rowan's cheek, in much the same way a mother would check a child for a fever. Jack watched as Calliope's brow furrowed and she continued watching Rowan. The eldest Muse seemed deep in thought and Jack wasn't sure what to make of it. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a few deep breaths before pulling her hand away and looking back to her list.

"Well?" Jack said as Calliope pulled a feather from her dress and pressed it to the list. In one grand gesture, she slid the feather across the page, leaving a trail of shining black ink on the list's surface.

Jack looked over Calliope's shoulder at the page and his stomach sank. Every name leading up to Rowan's had been crossed out. Rowan's had been circled.

"I can stop looking," Calliope said at last, rolling up the list after tucking the feather back into her dress.

"It can't be her, you've made some kind of mistake," Jack whispered hastily.

"I know the Mortal Muse, I have never been wrong," Calliope said sternly. She glanced around at the drawings on the wall and said, "Look at all she's created, is it that hard to believe?"

"Check again, it can't be her," Jack said, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but your friend is who the Shadow People are looking for," Calliope whispered. "Speaking of which, you should stay here until the sun comes up, we'll call a meeting then. I have to speak with North."

"So I'm just supposed to stay here and make sure nothing tries to suck out her soul?" he said, having difficulty not raising his voice. "What am I supposed to tell her?!"

"Nothing yet, we'll figure that out at the meeting," Calliope said. "But yes, you need to make sure no harm comes to her. Right now all we know is that your staff can destroy the Shadow People, so you need to keep an eye on her until the sun comes out."

"I can't believe this," he muttered.

"I can't either, you've been gallivanting around with her the entire time. If you knew more about us, you'd have been able to save me a search," Calliope said, approaching the open window.

"_That's_ what you're concerned about?" Jack said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Finding her as soon as possible was a top priority. Now it's only to keep her powers safe. Goodnight, Jack," Calliope said, turning back from the winter spirit at last as her body began to transform into that of a bird's, soaring out the window and dodging the falling snow as she went.

Jack groaned, running his hands over his hair before looking back at Rowan, still entirely unaware of what had just happened. She shivered at the draft from the open window, pulling her blankets closer to herself, still deep in sleep.

Jack slid her window closed, careful to lock it this time and approached her bed yet again.

Was this why she could see him? Did her belief have anything to do with it? His heart sank at the idea. What if this whole thing, their whole _friendship_ had been based on this weird connection between the Muses and the Guardians?

All he had wanted was to be her friend and hear her stories; this complicated everything.

"I promised Jamie I would protect you," Jack whispered, sitting back down on the bed and watching her in the dim light of the lamp that he still hadn't shut off. His mind raced back to the other night when the Shadow People had consumed him with their darkness. That feeling of dread, the anxiety, the hopelessness.

"I'm not going to break my promise, I'm a Guardian," he said, flicking her bangs away from her face as Calliope had earlier. Rowan responded again, by swatting at his hand and shifting slightly. "I won't let them hurt you, Rowan."

* * *

Rowan's alarm barely had a chance to wake her when she heard a _thud_ as though something had fallen off her bed, along with a _crash_ as though it had hit her bedside table on the way down. Rowan sat upright with a start as someone began to curse from the ground beside her bed.

She leaned over, the cell phone alarm still beeping annoyingly, to find Jack massaging his forehead and glaring at the table corner. Rowan watched him quizzically before reaching over to shut her alarm off.

"You all right?" she asked. "I didn't expect you to still be here."

"The, uh, alarm took me by surprise," Jack groaned. "And I guess, um, well, my story must have put _me_ to sleep, too. Sorry about that."

"Your story was good, I was just tired," Rowan assured him. "And it's fine, I mean… all you were doing was sleeping, right?"

"Right," Jack said quickly.

"Oh, that was convincing, were you going through my stuff again?" Rowan said, raising a brow.

"After what happened last time? Of course not," Jack said, finally grabbing for the edge of the bedside table in order to steady himself as he rose back to his feet. "I'm still shaken up from the alarm is all."

"If you say so," Rowan said suspiciously, crawling out of her bed and walking across the room to flip her light switch, which better illuminated the room than her lamp had. The sun hadn't quite come up yet, which made the artificial lighting necessary.

"Well, I need to get ready, I don't know if you were going to stick around for coffee or something- do you drink coffee?" Rowan asked, fiddling with her coffee maker.

"Never had it, don't know," Jack said hastily. "Are you, uh, really getting ready this early? The sun's not even up yet."

"I know, but I have to eat something, put my face on and everything else," Rowan said mid-yawn, gesturing to the makeup bag in the corner.

_"That's_ what's different about your face," Jack said, as though he had just figured out a very difficult math problem.

Rowan laughed. "You seriously didn't figure that out?"

"I could see your freckles better," he said. "And your eyes were different somehow."

"Eyeliner is magical, and my freckles haven't ever been that prominent to start with," Rowan shrugged. "At least I don't draw my moles on, I knew a girl that did that, she could've at least been consistent is all I'm saying."

Rowan had two small beauty marks on her face, one near the inner corner of her right eye, and the other on her right cheek, just below the cheekbone.

"Oh, I remember when people wore fake ones," Jack said, shaking his head slightly.

Rowan ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back into an elastic in preparation for washing her face and watched the boy for a moment. He seemed to be avoiding eye contact and was fidgeting quite a bit. He was careful to keep his eyes fixed on her drawings on the walls, moving his staff from one hand to the other.

"Are you okay, Jack?" Rowan asked.

"Yeah! Yeah, of course. Just, uh, kinda shaken up from the whole thing with the Shadow People the other day, I'd rather stick around here until the sun comes up, if that's okay."

"I thought you took care of them," Rowan said, furrowing her brow.

"I was able to get rid of _some_ of them, they're still out there," he said vaguely.

"Well I don't know how much safer you'd be here than anywhere else, but sure, you can hang out. I mean, I won't be too entertaining…"

"That's fine," Jack said, sitting down at the dining room table. "Just go about your usual business, pretend I'm not even here."

"… all right then," she said, watching him in confusion for no more than a few moments before disappearing into the bathroom. As she turned on the faucet to begin washing her face, a million questions ran through her mind.

Why did Jack suddenly seem so uneasy? He had cared little about the Shadow People the night before, but was that why he had stayed the night? Every time she thought she was starting to figure Jack Frost out, he threw her for another loop.

She never thought she'd see the day he seemed _worried._


	16. Hard To Say

A/N: Thank you guys for the lovely reviews! I even got a few new reviewers last time, I hope to hear more from you all in the future! I'm glad you all seemed to enjoy the reveal even though it _was_ really obvious who the Mortal Muse was. You guys get to meet the remaining Muses (if only briefly) in this one, hope it's not too confusing!

* * *

_"So we're placing the fate of the Muses and pretty much the belief, faith, and creative energy of the entire human race in the hands of Jack Frost. Great. How could _that_ possibly end badly?"_

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: Hard To Say**

* * *

Jack leaned against the wall beside the great fireplace in the North Pole, arms crossed and hood up as the others filtered into the pole, painfully slowly, in his opinion. This meeting was to involve all the Guardians and all the Muses.

Muse after Muse shuffled in, the ones who could fly traveling that way and others finding different methods to arrive. Many chose to catch a ride on one of Sandy's dream sand creatures. An orb of silvery blue light, a moonbeam, accompanied each Muse. If the situation had been different, perhaps Jack would have watched them all arrive. Perhaps he'd find their modes of transportation fascinating or watch the dream sand creatures in awe as he usually did.

He had barely greeted the other Guardians as they arrived, his eyes fixed on the floor in front of him.

"Well, by now you all know why you're here," Calliope said, balancing atop the railing separating the platform from the globe. North stood beside her, arms crossed. Her moonbeam hovered close to her feet. Jack finally brought his eyes up from the ground and to the eldest Muse.

"The Mortal Muse has been identified. Her name is Rowan Sawyer."

"That sounds like a boy's name," Polyhymnia said. The hem of her white gown dragged across the ground, a few of the elves had already tripped over it. The moonbeam nearest to her rushed to help the elves upright again each time.

"It's _modern_. Sounds American. Is she American?" Clio said, adjusting the straps on her corset, decorated with various clock gears.

"Yes, she is," Calliope said. Before she could continue, yet another Muse had to chime in.

"There's never been an _American_ Muse before," Thalia said thoughtfully, twirling her mask around in her hands.

"That's because the last time a Mortal Muse became an _Immortal_ Muse was before the United States was even a concept," Clio said.

"I know it's very difficult for you all not to talk but I'm going to need you to _try_ for a moment," Calliope said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Her tone alone gave away that this was a problem she had often with the eight others.

"Rowan Sawyer is an art student, she is twenty years old and very much unaware of her powers, if what Jack has told us is anything to go by," North said, glancing at the younger Guardian who immediately focused on the floor once again.

"Not that he told us much," Bunny added.

"What else is there to say?" Jack said, annoyed.

"Oh, is this the girl he was stalking?" Euterpe asked, her attention having been on a music box that she had found unguarded when she entered the pole. As she drew her attention away from the toy and to Jack, an elf soon appeared to snatch the box from her grasp and take it to the wrapping station, leaving the Muse pouting.

"I wasn't _stalking_ her," Jack snapped.

_"So_ defensive," Melpomene commented, though she seemed delighted as Jack glared at her.

"Yeah, it's the same girl," Calliope said. "Though evidently Jack Frost can be around a Mortal Muse for a week and not realize."

"In Jack's defense," Tooth said immediately, cutting Jack off as he opened his mouth to retort. "I've met Rowan, and I'm much more familiar with the Muses and have spent more time with them than Jack has. I didn't suspect Rowan either."

"I doubt I'd be able to figure it out," Thalia said, offering Jack an assuring smile.

"Well of course _you_ wouldn't, Thalia," Melpomene mumbled with a roll of the eye.

"If you two start fighting again, I _swear_ I will serve you up to the Shadow People personally," Calliope hissed at Melpomene and Thalia. They simply glared at one another, their respective moonbeams hovering close together, as though trying to stay away from the conflict.

"Okay, okay, so she's in art school, what else?" asked Terpsichore. She had long, wiry limbs, sun-kissed skin and wore a tight ensemble. "Do the Shadow People know she's the Mortal Muse yet? Or are they still looking for her?"

"They don't know yet, and the longer we can keep it that way, the better," Urania said. Her moonbeam seemed to almost perch upon her shoulder. If they had any expressions to speak of, this orb of light would appear the happiest, curled up against the side of Urania's neck. "I only fear that putting her under protection might draw more attention to her."

"Well, Jack will be her guard," North said simply, as though it were obvious.

"What?" Jack said, pulling his hood down at last.

"You are our best option!" North said. "You are the only one with a weapon that has been tested against the Shadow People _and_ been proven successful. Not to mention, despite suggestions that you _stop doing so,_ you have been spending time with Miss Sawyer for the past week anyway. Perhaps if the Shadow People have noticed this, your continued presence there will seem less suspicious."

"So we're placing the fate of the Muses and pretty much the belief, faith, and creative energy of the entire human race in the hands of Jack Frost," Euterpe said, furrowing her brow. "Great. How could _that_ possibly end badly?"

Sandy floated into the middle of the platform, in full view of both the Muses and the Guardians, as images began to float above his head in rapid succession. Jack noticed a snowflake, the moon, Pitch's silhouette and more.

"Sandy's right," Bunny said. "Jack helped defeat Pitch, he saved the Guardians and we're all stronger now because of him. If anyone can handle this, if _anyone_ can keep the Mortal Muse safe, it's him."

Jack couldn't help the smile that came to his face, the first genuine one that had occurred since he learned of the Mortal Muse's identity. Bunny and Sandy's sentiment was nice to hear, to say the least.

"And the rest of us?" Erato asked. "Do we just go on as we did before we found her? Hiding out with some moonbeams and hoping that if they find us we'll be able to get away? There's only so long we can hide."

"We have to learn more about the Shadow People before we can properly try to defeat them," Tooth said. "And we can't exactly go out looking to fight them as a group right now, North has to focus on Christmas."

"Why don't we just ask Pitch?" Erato said. No one looked more surprised than Melpomene at the other Muse's suggestion. "I hate to agree with Melpomene, but it would save us _so much_ time and guesswork, and we could just dive right into trying to get rid of them."

"He cannot be trusted," North stressed. "It is not my first choice to have the rest of you in hiding and the Mortal Muse under protection until we figure this out but right now it is the best we can do."

"The best you can do is swallow your pride and talk to Pitch," Melpomene said. "He knows how to defeat them!"

"Then why hasn't _he_ done anything?" Calliope asked. "They'll destroy belief if they get to the Mortal Muse and become more powerful, surely he knows that it will harm him as well."

"He's _too weak_, he needs the Guardians and _we need him_," Melpomene said.

"Forget it!" Bunny said, approaching the Muse, glaring down at her and clenching his teeth. "That _creature_ tried to destroy us, he won't turn around give us information to _help_ us. He doesn't care about humanity or children. He doesn't care about order or compromise, he cares about power. And if you really think he cares about _you_, then I pity you. You are a _fool."_

"Bunnymund, _you_ are the fool; you are _all_ fools! Your pride will be your downfall!" Melpomene said. The tension between her and the overgrown rabbit so thick in the air, it was uncomfortable to even shift one's weight.

Urania was the first one to break the silence that had been caused. "As long as they don't find Rowan, the Shadow People can't take her powers and cause the trouble they're planning. Christmas is less than a month away. We just have to lie low and keep Rowan safe until then. At that point, North and the other Guardians, maybe even a few of us, can go out and try to figure out what we can do to contain and destroy the Shadow People. Once we weaken them, destroy their moral and their unity, we won't have to worry about them anymore."

"What do I tell her?" Jack said at last.

"Does she need to know anything?" Terpsichore asked.

"I assume we'd _have_ to tell her if we relocate her to place her under protection," Calliope said.

"There's no need to completely uproot her from her life, especially if the Shadow People don't know what she is," Urania pointed out.

"I can't just start following her around constantly, she'll get suspicious. She already _is_ suspicious, I could tell," Jack said.

"You don't have to be around her constantly," Tooth said. "Only at night, during the day you can go about your usual business. In fact, you _should_. You need to keep the kids believing in you."

"Rowan deserves to know what's going on," North said, lightly stroking his beard. He pointed to a nearby pair of yetis. "Bring her to the pole. We will explain."

The yetis babbled a response before beginning walking toward the room where North stored his snow globes. Jack quickly flew over and blocked their way, halting the creatures in their path. "Wait, right _now?"_ he said.

"Why not?" North asked.

"She's taking a final exam right now!" Jack said. The others were clearly confused about his reasoning. It was just so… _responsible._ He elaborated, "If we tear her away from her exam, she'll probably tase me again."

"Again?" Tooth said.

"She _tased_ you?" Bunny said, unable to help his laughter. Jack immediately rolled his eyes, regretting making that comment as the other Guardians and quite a few of the Muses joined in on Bunny's laughing at Jack's expense.

"Are you all done yet?" Jack asked.

"Not by a long shot," Bunny laughed.

"And all this time we were trying to keep _her_ safe from Jack!" North chuckled. "Clearly she can fend for herself!"

"I wonder if tasers work on Shadow People," Thalia smirked. "She might not need him at all."

"Yeah, yeah, it's very funny that I got tased," Jack said with a sigh.

"You deserved it, Peeping Tom," Erato giggled.

"Nothing I say is going to convince any of you that I'm not a pervert, right?" Jack said, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers.

"Basically," Thalia said, shrugging.

"Bring Rowan when she is finished with her tests, I will send you with a snow globe," North said to Jack. He turned his attention back to the rest of the Muses. "Perhaps it would be best if _all nine_ of you were not here. We do not want to overwhelm her."

"Goodbye," Melpomene said immediately, placing her mask to her face and disappearing from the spot, taking her moonbeam with her.

"Well that was easy," Calliope said, raising a brow.

"She's probably filling Pitch in with as much as she can without prompting you to kill her," Thalia commented.

"I want to get out of here," Terpsichore said. "As much as I'd like to meet the potential Muse, I don't like being here this time of year with this kind of threat. It's _always_ dark this far north in December."

"Same," Erato said. "Plus, I was working with a romance author earlier, I want to revisit her."

"Perhaps just Urania and I should stay," Calliope said. "She can meet the rest of you in due time."

The other Muses mumbled among themselves, shuffling to their feet and seeming to agree that their presence was not needed. Thalia placed her mask to her face and disappeared, others began mounting fantastic sand creatures that Sandy began conjuring for their use.

"Let us know if you think this one will make the transition," Clio said to Calliope, fiddling with some of the gears on her outfit. Jack jumped in surprise as a pair of mechanical wings sprang from the back of her ensemble.

"What the hell…" Jack said, unable to help but reach forward and brush his hand against the material.

"Like it?" Clio said, clearly proud. "Based on Leonardo's designs."

"Oh, Leonardo," Urania said with a smile.

"Leonardo Da Vinci?" Jack asked, eyes still fixed on the wings.

"He was one of our favorites," Clio said.

"I do miss the Renaissance," Urania sighed.

"We should go visit some time," Clio suggested, kicking off the ground as the wings began to flap and keep her airborne. "It will be fun to watch everyone work again."

"We should," Urania nodded.

"I'll let you know what I think of this one, Clio," Calliope said, responding to Clio's earlier statement at last. Turning to the others, she reminded them, "Stay safe."

The remaining Muses said their farewells, flying off into the distance either by fancy flying device in Clio's case, her own flying abilities in Polyhymnia's case, or Sandy's dream creatures.

The remaining group was strangely silent after the other Muses had departed, as though unsure what to do now.

"We can have the meeting in my workshop," North suggested, ushering the others in the direction of the room in question. Jack had barely begun to walk that way before North set a large hand on the boy's shoulder.

"You are troubled, Jack," North said.

"What am I supposed to tell her?" Jack said, looking up at the man. The others were kind enough to keep their distance, some already inside North's workshop while the others lingered near the door. "'Oh, hey, Rowan, so there's these dark creatures trying to eat your soul because you're a Mortal Muse and they could use your powers to destroy humanity. Oh, and the only way to become an Immortal Muse is to _die_ the right way. So I have to hang out at your apartment and make sure that doesn't happen.' I don't think she's going to take it well."

"You do not have to tell her everything, you will bring her here where we can _all_ explain situation," North said.

"I just… I don't like thinking about the whole 'transition' from one to another," Jack said.

"Rowan Sawyer is mortal, Jack," North said. "Whether she becomes a full Muse or not, she _is_ going to die one day. But there is no reason it has to be soon. This is why we are placing her under protection."

"So she doesn't meet her death via Shadow People," Jack said.

"Exactly."

"North?" Jack asked.

"Yes, Jack?"

"Mortal Muses… can they see Guardians regardless of their personal belief?" Jack asked hesitantly.

"You want to know if she truly believes in you or if it is due to her own powers that she can see you," North said, smiling softly. Jack didn't respond verbally, simply stared at the floor for a moment before nodding but slightly. "I looked into her records. Rowan Sawyer wrote me letters until she was thirteen, Jack."

Jack glanced back up from the floor, raising a brow.

"Even though she stopped writing, her light stayed illuminated on the globe until she turned eighteen. Once someone is considered an adult, they are no longer represented on the globe, regardless of belief," North continued. "I spoke to Tooth earlier, and Rowan did not lose her teeth until much later than her peers. Bunny recalls leaving a few eggs for her even after her friends stopped going on Easter Egg hunts. Sandy still brings her dreams."

"So, she still believes in the Guardians," Jack said.

"She is not unlike her cousin. While others insisted we were not real, she continued with her beliefs. Secretly, of course, to avoid taunting," North said. "The Mortal Muse is blessed with a strong imagination. She believes in you, Jack, just as she believes in the rest of us."

"Thanks," Jack said. "I know it's petty, to worry about that, but-"

"It is understandable, you are fond of all your believers," North said. "Now, let's get you a snow globe so we may all speak to the infamous Rowan Sawyer."

* * *

"How do you think you did?" Shirley asked Rowan, meeting her outside the small lecture hall. Rowan had finished ten minutes earlier and had agreed to wait for Shirley outside the room. She had few plans for the night, maybe ordering a pizza and catching up on the shows she had missed while finishing her projects the week before. She could spare a few moments in order to see Shirley after the test before they went their separate ways.

The hallway was eerily quiet and bare, except for some strange installations from the fine arts department.

"I don't like to form opinions on exams until I get my results back," Rowan said. "Hate to say a test was easy and then get a D."

"True. What was that last slide identification, though? I swear I spent ten minutes trying to remember the artist, my mind was just… blank," Shirley groaned. The pair began walking out of the building and toward the parking lot, a light snow having already started to fall. Rowan adjusted her scarf at the sight of the snowflakes, smiling softly. Snow would never quite be the same again.

"Rowan?" Shirley said. It seemed that the snow had distracted Rowan, her pace having slowed considerably and Shirley standing a good four paces ahead of her. "You listening?"

"Oh, right, the slide identification. The O'keefe one?" Rowan said, quickening her pace to catch up with her friend.

"O'KEEFE! That was it, how could I forget her name? Ugh," Shirley said, burring her face in her hands. "O'Keefe. It _was '_Ram's Head Morning Glory and Little Hills,' right? 1935?"

"Names are hard," Rowan said. "I thought it was 'Ram's Head White Hollylock and Little Hills.'"

"Goddamn it," Shirley said.

"Did you know the other slides?" Rowan asked. "You should get partial credit for coming that close to the title… that is, if the title _I_ thought it was is actually right."

"Yeah. At least, I think I did. Ugh, I'm so ready for these stupid finals to be over."

"Just a few more days! Then the Winter Exhibition and then Christmas Break. Plus we're done with real exams, everything else is just critique on our projects."

"True. Granted, I still need to _finish_ my project for tomorrow," Shirley said, leaning against a black car that they approached with a dramatic sigh.

"Gonna wait for Adam? I can give you a ride home now," Rowan offered.

"Nah, you go on, he and I have to go get more paint anyway, the supply store completely ran out of white and won't get more until the morning."

"Terrible timing," Rowan winced.

"Pretty much. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely, good luck with your project."

"Thanks."

Rowan walked further down the parking lot toward where she had parked earlier, frowning at the distance she had left to walk. She had been running late that morning and hadn't managed to get a spot any closer than just shy of the very edge of the student lot.

The walk always seemed longer when it was snowing. At least it wasn't dark yet, the sun had only just begun to set.

Finally beside her car, she unlocked it, tossing her backpack in the back seat and settling into the driver's seat. She turned the car on and ran the wipers to get rid of the snow that had collected on her windshield since she had parked. Leaning back, Rowan sighed, rubbing together her hands, hoping the friction would warm them better than her fingerless gloves did. She had to at least wait a few more minutes for the car to warm up before she left.

As Rowan reached for her seatbelt, a sudden cold gust of wind came from her right side, followed shortly by the sound of the passenger door slamming shut. Rowan jumped at the sound and turned, frightened, before seeing Jack settling himself into her passenger seat.

She let out a breath in relief, realizing it wasn't something hoping to do her harm. "You scared the hell out of me, don't sneak up on me like that!"

He nervously smiled at her and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's fine," she said. She hesitated a moment, remembering the last time she'd seen him, mere hours earlier. "Hey, you doing any better than you were this morning? You seemed really worried."

"More or less," Jack said, more as a question than a statement.

"Okay," Rowan said skeptically. "Did something happen, though? Like, last night you seemed fine and this morning, well, not so much."

"I'll explain in a bit," Jack said. He reached forward and adjusted the dial on the vents in front of him. The car was beginning to warm up, which meant the air from the vents finally was, too. "That's, well, actually why I'm here."

"What do you mean?" Rowan asked, pulling out of her parking spot at last and starting toward her apartment complex. Jack never had a _reason_ for visiting before. Well, not outside wanting to know what happened in her story or trying to peer pressure her into flying with him.

He never had a _serious_ reason.

"There's, uh… something important that we have to discuss," Jack said, keeping his eyes fixed on her dashboard.

"Okay, what is it?" Rowan's mind began to race. What could he have to discuss with her?

"Not here."

"Jack, what's going on?" she asked as she stopped at a red light and turned to face him. He didn't return the gesture.

"We need to go to the North Pole," he said vaguely.

"Why?"

"We just do, can you trust me on this?"

"No, tell me what's going on," she insisted.

"Something important, Rowan, important enough that we have to go see the other Guardians, will you just do that for me?"

Before Rowan could respond, the driver behind her honked their horn at her, which drew her attention back to the traffic light, now green. She pressed her foot to the gas pedal.

"But _why_ do _I_ have to go?" she said.

"Because it's about you," he said weakly.

_"What's_ about me? I need you to elaborate here, Jack, you're freaking me out," Rowan said, struggling to keep her gaze on the road before her rather than the winter spirit in her passenger seat. Her nerves were clear in the very slight tremble in her voice. She hoped he dismissed it as shivering.

"I don't know that this is something I should tell you while you're driving," he said, seeming to have no issues staring at the road instead of her. What was he hiding? Rowan groaned in response.

_"Fine_, have to be difficult. We'll be back at the apartment in like two minutes."

The remainder of the drive was spent in the most awkward of silences, both parties fidgeting uncomfortably until finally Rowan pulled into a parking spot and shut off her car. Pulling the keys out of the ignition, she climbed out shortly after Jack exited the car himself.

"So what's going on?" she asked, her breath clouding in front of her from the cold.

"It's the Shadow People, Rowan," Jack said, stepping closer to her and speaking in tones far more serious than Rowan was used to. If she wasn't uneasy before, she definitely was now. His next statement didn't help. "They're looking for _you."_

"What? Why the hell would they want _me?"_ Rowan said immediately, staring at Jack in disbelief. Surely there had to be better souls to claim as a prize than hers. This was some kind of stupid joke, right? _He_ was making up stories now, right?

"That'll all be explained at the meeting, please, just come with me to the North Pole and we'll fill you in on everything else," Jack said hastily.

"A meeting with _Santa Claus?_ About shadows trying to _eat me?_ Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm not, and it's more complicated than that. You really need to come with me. And it's not just North, it's the other Guardians and-"

"I don't have time for this, Jack!" Rowan said, a bit too loudly it would seem, as some other residents walking by stopped to watch her. She sighed and quickly walked along to the back of the covered parking garage, where Jack quickly flew to catch up with her. Here they would at least be out of sight and earshot of the other residents without wasting time getting to her apartment.

"I have to turn in a project tomorrow, I have to finish this semester and pass my finals so my GPA doesn't drop. If I get below a 3.0 I lose my scholarships. _Do you understand how expensive college is?_ I spent half my paycheck on paint last week, Jack. _Paint._ I have classes to go to and _pass with decent scores the first time around_ so I don't have even _more_ student loans once I get out of here! I can't just go off and play at the North Pole!" Rowan said.

"This is _important,_ Rowan, you _have_ to come," Jack said, rolling his eyes slightly at her reasons behind not being able to go. "I'll bring you back in plenty of time to get to class tomorrow morning but I need to take you to the pole. Please, just come with me."

"What if I don't?"

"That's not really an option," Jack said. "If you don't come willingly with me, then North will probably send his Yetis for you. Again, _this is important."_

"But Jack," Rowan said, leaning against the concrete of the parking structure and pushing her hair out of her face in frustration, "Why _me?_ I thought you said they were after the Muses or whatever."

"They'll explain everything there," he assured her. "And I promise, Rowan, nothing is going to happen to you, I'm not going to let the Shadow People get to you."

"You can't be around all the time," she said, shaking her head.

"I'm going to have to be," Jack said. He pulled a snow globe from the pocket of his jacket and held it up in front of her. "Just come with me, everything will be explained."

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the snow globe.

"It's a portal, it's how we're getting there," he said.

Rowan twirled three small strands of hair in her hands, creating a small braid as she bit her bottom lip. How exactly was she supposed to handle this? She couldn't just ignore it and hope it went away. If the Shadow People were anything like Jack, they weren't something that could just be ignored away.

But did she want to know more about what was going on? Part of her still clung to the possibility that Jack was playing some kind of trick on her, but something about his serious mannerisms gave away the terrifying truth of the situation. It was bad, whatever was going on. Her stomach dropped as dread consumed her, heart racing.

What could _possibly_ be going on? It seemed that she could either continue to resist and work herself into a full-blown panic attack or she could go with Jack and find out what exactly was happening. "… we'll be back before tomorrow?"

"I promise."

"Fine," Rowan said, sighing deeply and stepping away from the concrete wall.

"North Pole," Jack whispered to the snow globe before tossing it forward. The swirling portal appeared and Rowan took a step back, watching it with wide, terrified eyes.

"We're going inside that thing?" she mumbled.

"Trust me," Jack said, offering her his hand.

"I feel like I fell headfirst into a young adult fantasy novel and I'm really not liking it," Rowan said, still watching the portal nervously.

"You'll be okay," he said.

After another moment of hesitation, Rowan extended a shaking hand to take Jack's. She knew the flesh would be cold to the touch, but as her bare fingers touched his, she was still surprised at the goose bumps rushing up her arm.

And yet, there was still something comforting about it. He was starting to become familiar, safe.

She held her breath and walked with him through the portal.


	17. Memento Mori

A/N: **Trigger Warning: Discussion of Death and Suicide in this chapter.**

Thanks again, everyone, for the reviews on the last chapter! **soaringphoenix86**, you always leave such excellent reviews and I always look forward to reading your thoughts! I actually love messing with Melpomene and her relationships with the others because she's such a drama queen, haha. **sky65**, I really appreciate your consistent reviewing, glad you're enjoying the story! **sayingirl**, thank you very much, I'm pleased you're enjoying Rowan and Jack's relationship thus far! I have lovingly named them "Rowack." **Somebody**, well, the Mortal Muse is dead for a whole year before she comes back so that would be pretty shocking if she returned to her loved ones! As far as what Rowan's "center" would be? Well, I'm sure that will come up later!

In other news, I've recently finished a character design sheet for Urania. If any of you are interested in seeing my interpretation of her, you should check out the links on my profile page! She's on my deviantART profile as well as my art and RotG tumblrs. I plan on creating design sheets for the other muses, too!

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_"It's not up to you, Do you suppose that I _wanted_ immortality? Do you want to know how _I_ came to be this way, Rowan?"_

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**Chapter Seventeen: Memento Mori**

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Rowan stumbled, feeling as though the floor had been jerked out from beneath her feet. She tightened her grip on Jack's hand as she attempted not to fall. There was a clatter as Jack's staff fell to the ground and he grabbed for her shoulder with his now-free hand to steady her.

"You okay? It takes some getting used to," Jack said.

"I'm fine, I'm okay," Rowan said, shaking her head in an attempt to get her hair out of her face. Once it was clear she wasn't about to fall over, Jack let go of her and retrieved his staff from the ground.

Rowan ran her hands over her hair in an attempt to fix it, finally taking a moment to examine her surroundings. Her eyes widened, breath caught in her throat.

This was actually the _North Goddamn Pole._

She had read so many storybooks, watched so many Christmas specials. Hell, one of her history classes at school had an entire segment on Santa Claus and how illustrators and advertisements had essentially created his popular image.

All the artistic representations she'd seen, however, paled in comparison to this. The sheer size of the establishment was the first thing that surprised her. She wasn't sure she'd ever been in a building so large. Everywhere she turned, there seemed to be more and more of the building to see, and something told her that this wasn't the only one.

There were so many colors, so many toys and brightly wrapped gifts. There were lights, thousands upon thousands of lights, and several decorated Christmas trees scattered about the platforms they were standing on.

And the yetis! The massive beasts were carting supplies and toys across the platforms. There were countless amounts of them, some of them stopping to glance her way before shuffling off to wherever they were headed.

There were elves, though most were hiding around the immediate area, climbing atop each other to get a better look at this new arrival. The only sounds made were the jingling of the bells atop their outfits.

But it was the massive globe in the center of everything that kept pulling her gaze back. The language she didn't understand, the lights, the colors.

She wanted to be more excited about this. She wanted to look around; she wanted to truly appreciate the fact that she was at the _North Pole._ There wasn't a single child who celebrated Christmas that didn't want to be exactly where she was.

And yet, her heart continued pounding against her ribcage and still she felt sick, her legs trembling slightly. She wasn't here for fun, she was here to find out about something that wanted to basically consume her soul.

"Any time you want to breathe," Jack said, setting his hand back on her shoulder. She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath. "I hear that's sort of necessary for survival and all that."

"This is just… very overwhelming," Rowan said.

"Rowan Sawyer!" came North's giant voice as the man emerged from his small workshop, closing the door behind him. Rowan's jaw dropped as he approached her. He was nearly as tall as the yetis. "Is nice to finally meet you, my dear."

"Santa Claus," was all she managed to say, staring up at the man in awe.

"Call me North," he said, taking one of her hands in his and firmly shaking it. His hands were huge, calloused. She barely had a moment to be amazed at them before getting distracted by the designs running up and down his arms.

"N-Nice tattoos," she said.

"Thank you!" he said, rolling his sleeves up a bit further in order to show her the entirety of the designs. "One of the yetis does them for me."

"Really? He does excellent work," Rowan said, furrowing her brow as she tried to imagine this man getting tattooed by an abominable snowman.

"He has had many centuries to practice," North laughed. "Thank you for coming at such short notice, Rowan. And do allow me to apologize for Jack."

"What did he do now?" Rowan said, glancing back at the spirit.

"Yeah, what did I do?" Jack said, confused as well.

"For the _breaking and entering_. I _told_ him to stop," North said, raising a brow at the boy.

"I already apologized for that," Jack sighed.

"He did, we're even now, no worries," Rowan said. It occurred to her suddenly that she was having a conversation with Jack Frost and Santa Claus.

Was she absolutely _certain_ she was not insane? This, of course, brought up the age-old question of whether the insane _know_ they are insane or not.

"Ah yes, we all heard about the tasing, very funny!" North said, laughing once more. His laugh was huge, deep, downright _jolly_. "But we have many serious matters to discuss! Come, to my workshop, the others are waiting there."

North turned to lead the way and Rowan immediately turned to Jack, eyes wide. "What is he, seven feet tall?!" she whispered to him as they walked.

"More like seven-and-a-half I think," Jack replied.

"He can also hear very well, despite his age," North said with a smirk, opening the door and holding it open for the two of them to walk through.

The workshop was calm in comparison to the factory, and far quieter. Rowan imagined it would be nearly silent if it weren't for the others inside.

There was a large rabbit in the corner with strange patterns on his fur. A small man in a golden, sand suit floated in midair near a stern looking woman wearing a feathered dress. An eerie bald woman spoke with Tooth near the window. All eyes were on Rowan almost instantly as she and Jack entered the room.

"You have met Tooth already," North said, gesturing to the fairy, who smiled at Rowan and waved.

"Hello! Nice to see you again, I wish the circumstances were better," Tooth said warmly.

"You too," Rowan said, finding that now that they were actually going to _discuss_ why she was here, her voice trembled as her legs did.

"Over here is Bunny, the, well, Easter Bunny," North said, gesturing to the Guardian in question.

"Oh yeah, I'm the hardest one to figure out," Bunny replied sarcastically with a roll of the eye. Rowan couldn't help but smile slightly; at least someone continued to find humor in the situation. "E. Aster Bunnymund's the name, but Bunny's less of a mouthful."

"Bunny it is," Rowan said.

"Sandy," North said, introducing the Sandman next. Rowan was surprised when sand silhouettes began to appear above the small man's head.

"What's he doing?" Rowan whispered to Jack.

"He says it's nice to meet you and…" Jack sighed, rolled his eyes a little, "He thinks it's funny that you tased me."

"Oh, well, thank you," Rowan said, smiling nervously.

"And these two lovely ladies are Calliope and Urania, the Muses of Epic Poetry and Astronomy, respectively," North said.

"Nice to officially meet you," Calliope said.

"Officially?" Rowan asked.

"Oh she broke into your apartment, too," Urania said. Calliope glared at the other Muse who simply shrugged. "It's true."

"Seriously? Is there a rule somewhere that once you're immortal, you don't have to ask permission to enter someone's home?" Rowan groaned.

"I imagine vampires still have to," Jack said.

"Are vampires real?" she asked.

"Why not, Santa Claus is," he shrugged.

"Oh good, something else to worry about."

"Speaking of worrying about things," Tooth said. "What all did Jack tell you before you came here?"

"Do you mean immediately before he brought me here or how much do I know about all of you in general?" Rowan asked. North brought her a chair and Rowan wondered if perhaps he noticed her legs shaking before taking a seat.

"Immediately before you came here," Bunny said.

"Just that the Shadow People are after _me_ and that you all would explain why," Rowan said, glancing down at her hands in her lap. She needed to repaint her nails; the old polish was chipping.

"What do you know about the Shadow People?" Tooth asked.

"Not much, they're kind of ghost things? And if they get too powerful they can eat your soul. They sound kinda like dementors," she replied.

"What's a dementor?" Bunny asked.

"It's a Harry Potter thing," Jack said. "And yeah, that's pretty much what they're like."

"I never pegged you as a big reader, Jack, or did you just watch the films?" Calliope asked.

"Spend enough centuries alone and you end up pretty well-read. Getting into libraries isn't hard when you're invisible," Jack said. "And neither is getting into theaters for midnight premiers. So, to answer your question, Harry-Potter-Elitist, I have read the books _and_ seen the films."

"Can, um, can we get back to the Shadow People?" Rowan said, once more drawing the gaze of everyone else in the room. Being the focus of their eyes caused her legs to tremble further, and she gripped her knees as though hoping they'd stop. "I just… I just want to know what's going on."

"The Shadow People used to work alone," North said. "They simply made people paranoid, and the paranoia left their spirit slightly unguarded. They would feed on the spirit, never enough to cause long-term or permanent damage, and then move on."

"But not anymore?" Rowan asked.

"They've kind of teamed up and realized that if they work together and do what they can to _break_ someone's spirit before consuming _all_ of it, they'll be even _more_ powerful," Jack said. "If they get _exceptionally _powerful, they might be able to feed on beings like us."

"And if they do that, they will simply take our powers for their own use and kill us in the process," Urania said.

"That's awful, really, but what does it have to do with _me?"_ Rowan asked. "How would _my_ spirit be any more useful to them than anyone else's?"

"Because you're the Mortal Muse," Calliope said.

"The Mortal _What?"_ Rowan said, heart caught in her throat.

"Every Muse starts as a Mortal Muse," Urania explained. "Essentially a mortal woman in every way, except that they possess the power to inspire and manipulate thoughts and dreams."

"I don't have any powers, you must have the wrong person," Rowan said, shaking her head. She couldn't be this Mortal Muse thing; it made absolutely no sense. Rowan was a regular, nothing special person. Suddenly she began to cling to this idea. Yes, yes, they had obviously made a mistake; the Shadow People were _clearly_ after someone else.

"The Mortal Muse rarely knows of her gifts," Calliope said. "You _do _have these powers, but you can't control them, it's the nature of the Mortal Muse. To have such great power but no control or knowledge of it."

"So, what, I've been inspiring people without meaning to?" Rowan said.

"Do you notice that creative people tend to flock to you?" Urania asked.

"I go to art school," Rowan said. "That's kind of where a lot of them are."

"Do others get ideas for projects after talking to you, has anyone ever written poems or songs after speaking with you or meeting you?" Calliope said.

"I… I mean, we all talk about our projects and bounce ideas off each other," Rowan said, sounding more exhausted as the conversation continued. "And I don't know, I mean, I had a lot of friends in local bands in high school, and my ex-boyfriend's writing didn't stop sucking until we started dating but these things being the result of some secret super powers?"

"Some of them, definitely," Urania said. "You _are_ the Mortal Muse, Rowan, I could tell the moment you walked in."

"I can't be this supernatural _thing_ okay?" Rowan said. "I have plans for my life that don't involve wearing fancy outfits and compelling people to write poetry for eternity."

"Mortal Muses do not automatically become Muses," Calliope said. "It's only happened nine times."

"It's sort of a process," Urania said hesitantly. "To become a full Muse, you must be a Mortal Muse. And you must die in an inspiring way."

"What do you mean 'die in an inspiring way'?" Rowan said, giving away more of her panic in her voice than she had intended to. Jack approached her where she sat and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

She hated to admit it, but somehow it seemed to help. Her heart still raced, her legs still quaked, but she felt slightly less nauseous.

"The sun picks the Muses," Calliope said. "Once the Mortal Muse dies, he evaluates the death to see if it warrants immortality. Usually it's when the Mortal Muse was young, and the death was tragic or unexpected."

"A tragic death is the surest way to immortality," Bunny said.

"What, like Marilyn Monroe? She dies mysteriously, before her time, and decades later you can still buy t-shirts with her face on it," Rowan said.

"Yes, just like that. John Lennon, Elvis Presley… Elizabeth Short, Bonnie and Clyde, they all gained immortality through death," Urania said. "The difference is that _we_ come back a year after our deaths if the Sun chooses us."

"I'm sorry but none of this is okay," Rowan said, shaking her head. "I-I can't do this shit! I can't be this 'Mortal Muse.' I can't worry about _dying_ the right way- I can't do any of this! It's not how my life is supposed to work out."

"It's not up to you," Calliope said. Her stern nature had been tucked away but now was clear in her tone of voice, causing Rowan to lean back in her chair in surprise. "Do you suppose that I _wanted_ immortality? Do you want to know how _I_ came to be this way, Rowan?"

Rowan was silent. Everyone was silent.

"I committed suicide," Calliope said, her voice cold. "I ran off that cliff, I spread my arms, and for a moment I was a bird. All I wanted was for that final flight and for it all to end, and a year later I was back. For a while, I was alone. So, I'm very sorry that being the Mortal Muse is messing with your life plan, but you are certainly not the first one."

The silence once she finished speaking was uncomfortable as could be; Sandy took Calliope's hand in his and smiled up at her. Rowan watched the exchange in slight confusion, but in a way found it sweet. He seemed to be trying to comfort her, the memories of her suicide obviously not something often shared. Even with as few details as possible. It seemed to be working, as the Muse smiled back down at the Guardian.

"There's nothing saying you have to die," Jack said at last, breaking the silence and glancing down at Rowan. "In fact, that's what we're trying to prevent."

"What does any of this have to do with the Shadow People?" Rowan asked.

"The Mortal Muse is the only Muse whose powers are almost always entirely unprotected," Urania said. "The Shadow People are looking for you because if they find you, they can steal your powers for their use. They can give people nightmares, mess with their minds, and break their spirits entirely. Once they harvest enough of those broken souls, they'll be unspeakably powerful, powerful enough to steal the powers of full Muses easily."

"And after stealing the souls of enough children and destroying enough belief, they'll be able to steal our powers, too," Tooth said.

"So, the Shadow People can control these powers that I apparently have," Rowan said. "But _I_ can't."

"They are much more familiar with powers of this nature, they have had centuries of exposure to our world that you have not," North explained.

"And if they steal your powers, it's not like when they harvest some regular person's soul," Jack said hesitantly. "You'll die immediately."

"Well I'm just _special_ aren't I?" Rowan mumbled. "I just… I can't! I'm not cut out for this!"

"But you're the Mortal Muse," Bunny said.

"You guys can say it as much as you want," Rowan said, leaning forward in her seat. She kept her arms crossed before her, hand pressed to her stomach. She had hoped that learning more would ease her anxiety but she was certain she'd be sick soon. The more the others spoke, the more her stomach turned. "But I don't really know what to do with this information, okay? I mean, it's one thing to hang out with Jack Frost. It's one thing to know that all of this- all of _you_- actually exists… but I'm not cut out to be some kind of supernatural-being-in-training. I don't know what to do with these Shadow People or their evil plot."

"That is where we come in, or rather, Jack," North said, kneeling down so that he was nearly at eye-level with Rowan, who seemed to be avoiding looking directly at anyone. "For the time being, Jack is the only one with a weapon that has proven effective against the Shadow People. He will protect you."

"What, like a body guard?" Rowan winced.

"Essentially," North said.

"I'll be by every night when it gets dark," said Jack. "To keep an eye on you and make sure they _don't_ kill you."

"At least until we can figure out an efficient way to eliminate the Shadow People as a threat," Tooth said. "After Christmas we're going to be testing more strategies as a team, but in the meantime, you're in good hands."

"So I just go about my business like nothing happened?" Rowan said. That didn't really seem possible.

"Perhaps try not to leave home once it is dark," North said. "But otherwise, we simply want to keep you safe."

"You mean, you want to keep my powers safe," Rowan mumbled. North frowned.

"Don't worry, Rowan," Calliope said. "Once we figure out how to get rid of the Shadow People, we no longer have to have you placed under protection and you can resume your life as painfully ordinary as it was before. A Mortal Muse hasn't made the transition in centuries, I somehow doubt _you_ will be an exception."

Rowan glanced up at Calliope at last, eyes slightly narrowed. The statement had been disguised as an attempt to comfort her, but the tone gave away a hint of cattiness. _Painfully ordinary?_

As if she hadn't already been considering the possibility, now Rowan was beginning to be certain: she was not worthy of being a Muse, mortal or otherwise.

How had she managed to get herself into this situation? Was it simply by being born? Why her? Why now? Her pulse simply would not slow. She felt about two feet tall.

They all just kept _staring_ at her.

What was she even doing here? With these powerful creatures from myth and legend, with these being she had read about. She didn't belong, and something told her that she never would.

She had never felt like such an outsider.

"Is there anything else I have to know or can I go home?" Rowan asked, eyes fixed on her kneecaps.

"Just stay in the light, stick with Jack at night. The Shadow People haven't figured out that _you're_ the Mortal Muse yet, so you should be fine. Just lie low," Urania said, offering Rowan a reassuring smile once the girl finally glanced up.

"We'll be fine," Jack said, squeezing her shoulder slightly.

Rowan wanted to feel better about this, but the worry Jack had displayed earlier kept coming back to her mind. It seemed too simple to have him hang around more often and have her automatically safe from harm.

"Tsar Lunar will keep an eye on you as well," Urania said. "If he thinks you need the extra help he'll send some moonbeams."

"So, try not to get into trouble during new moon," North added.

"Noted," Rowan said.

"We will get you another snow globe and send you on your way," North said, heading for the door. "And we will be keeping in touch, Rowan. Hopefully we have good news for you next time."

Rowan slowly pulled herself back to her feet, unsteady. She looked back to the Muses, finding that Urania was still smiling gently at her, while Calliope's gaze held more criticism. Rowan began to nervously braid at a few strands of her hair.

"C'mon," Jack said, walking with Rowan out the door that North had just disappeared through. They stopped just outside the room and Rowan leaned against the nearby wall, still fiddling with her hair.

"Hey, at least that's over," he said, smiling nervously at her.

"It's just starting," she groaned.

Bunny emerged from the room and approached the pair. "Rowan," he said.

"Hm?" she said, glancing up at the rabbit. This was sort of uncomfortable; she had never encountered a _rabbit_ taller than her.

"You really are in good hands, I promise," he said. "And if Jack gives you any trouble, well, just tase 'im again. But this time, try to take pictures, yeah?"

"I thought we were supposed to be friends, Bunny, why do you want to see harm come to me?" Jack said, feigning outrage.

"We _are_ mates," Bunny said, playfully shoving the winter spirit, who smirked in response. "But you just have no idea how much amusement you being tased has brought me."

"I have a pretty good idea, actually," Jack said, rolling his eyes.

"I want to hear all about it next time," Bunny said to Rowan. "And don't worry about Calliope, hear me? She's a bit of a stroppy bitch sometimes."

"Don't let Sandy hear you say that," Jack chuckled.

"He knows she is," Bunny shrugged. "She's nice to _him_. They go way back, he was the first immortal being she met, it's all very sweet, I'm sure. But _I_ don't have to like her, she isn't _my_ girlfriend or lover or whatever they are."

"She is part of our alliance," North said, reappearing with a snow globe in hand.

"Doesn't mean I have to like her," Bunny said, shaking his head. North rolled his eyes and placed the snow globe into Jack's hand.

"At least try to be civil, Jack gets into enough arguments with the Muses to cover the rest of us," North said.

"I left the room before saying bad things about her," Bunny pointed out.

"The Muses started it," Jack mumbled, tossing the snow globe in the air and catching it again.

"Just take Rowan home and behave yourself, remember not to slack off during the day," North said to Jack.

"Don't worry, there'll still be plenty of blizzards and snow days," Jack said. He turned to Rowan. "Ready to go?"

"Been ready," she sighed. Had the circumstances been different, perhaps she would have found Bunny's comments amusing or teased Jack about their back and forth. It was still hard to wrap her mind around the whole thing, everything that had happened in the past _hour._

The portal opened up as Jack tossed it ahead and offered his hand to Rowan once more. She took it.

"We'll see you guys around," Jack said before he and Rowan stepped into the portal.

Rowan found herself back in her apartment, dark and silent, save for the bass of one of her neighbors listening to music much too loud. Once again, she nearly fell, and once again Jack steadied her. Once she was upright again, Jack stepped away to flip the light switch.

Silently, Rowan approached her dresser and began opening a few drawers.

"Hey, Rowan?" Jack said.

"Hm?" she mumbled, pulling out her sweats and a much-too-large black band t-shirt. She shut the drawers and turned to face him.

"You doing okay? I mean, I know it's a lot to take in," he said.

"Honestly?" Rowan said. "I'm conflicted. Between puking and crying."

Jack winced, running his hand across the back of his head nervously. "Well, I mean-"

"Jack, can we just… not talk? I'm just gonna take a shower and get ready for bed," Rowan said, walking toward the bathroom. Not bothering to give the boy a chance to respond, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, locking it. She gently set the clothes she planned on changing into on the counter before unbuttoning her coat and starting to pull it off.

One by one, more articles of clothing fell to the floor, dropped by her shaking hands. Her mind was still racing, spinning around in circles as it recalled everything that had just happened.

_You can resume your life as painfully ordinary as it was before._

Rowan pulled back her shower curtain, striped with various shades of purple, and turned the water on. She fiddled with the faucet knobs until the water was warm enough and climbed inside, closing the curtain behind her.

Resume her life? As ordinary as it was before?

They had tried consoling her. They had told her that everything was going to be all right, that she was in good hands and everything would turn out okay. They could act like nothing ever happened once it was all said and done.

But that wasn't going to happen. As the water beat down on Rowan's head, she couldn't help but think this. Her life was never going to be the same, it had all changed the very moment she came back to her apartment and found Jack Frost trying to sneak out her window.

Rowan Sawyer's life plan was anything but exciting. But she liked it that way. She knew exactly how things were supposed to go. She was supposed to finish school with honors, she was supposed to work a job she hated until she started making money with her artwork.

She was supposed to fall in love some day, get married when the concept stopped scaring her and have some kids. She was supposed to grow old, still writing her stories. If everything worked out okay, she'd die peacefully in her sleep.

She was supposed to write books for kids. She was supposed to _tell_ stories about magical beings and unbelievable adventures, not be thrown in the middle of one. She was a person that wrote stories, not a person that had stories written about them.

Now she was supposed to be a Mortal Muse? Rowan couldn't help but wonder if any of her skills as an artist, skills she had spent years trying to improve, had anything to do with her or this Muse nonsense.

How much of her life had been under her control? How much had been dictated by stars in the sky?

How was she supposed to ever go back to the life she had before when she was now questioning everything about herself? When she was now wondering about how and when she would die, and what it would be like. She was a healthy twenty-year-old, she should _not_ be thinking about the day she would die.

And yet, she kept coming back to that. She had never felt more vulnerable, more _mortal_ before. If a giant ball of gas in the sky decided she had died in the "right way," she'd be granted immortality. The thought terrified her.

It was the last thing she wanted. Living forever seemed like a great burden, and she had no idea how Jack managed.

_Jack._

How long had he known that she was the Mortal Muse? Was Jamie a cover story? Was his interest in _her_ stories a cover story? Had he been hanging around her this whole time because of what she was?

Something about that notion especially stung. The idea that Jack had been visiting, not because he wanted to, but because he was on some official Guardian business, made Rowan's heart sink.

Was she just a chore?

Finally giving in to her quaking knees, Rowan sank down into a fetal position, hugging her legs and burying her face into her knees.

Death. Soul-eating monsters. Death. Body guards. Death. _Painfully Ordinary_. Death. Uncontrollable power. Death. Nightmares. Death. Heart rate increasing. _Death._ Inadequacy.

The possibility of wandering the world for eternity, unable to bring her fear to its denouement and unable to live the life she wanted.

Death.

Death.

_Death._

It was a free verse of panic.

Rowan finally gave in and burst into hysteric tears, praying that the sound of the water, still beating down on her like her frightful thoughts, would drown out the noise. She didn't want Jack to hear her cry or to know just the extend to which she was poorly handling this. She was terrified, absolutely terrified, of what all of this meant for her. She was scared of the possibilities, scared of what she had learned, scared of Calliope and her exclusive club of beautiful, inspiring, intimidating women.

She was scared that her friendship with Jack wasn't a friendship at all, that she was an obligation. Scared to think that this whole thing, this setup to protect her, was far more about her powers than her as a person. Scared that she had become a live pawn on some astrological chessboard. She was scared of the lack of control she had over her life, when hours ago she had everything figured out.

She was scared for her life. She was scared for her mortality.

"I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this," Rowan sobbed, her tears mixing with the water. When she moved to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand, she left a streak of black from mascara and eyeliner.

"I can't… _I can't."_


	18. Vultures

A/N: Late-ish chapter, guys, sorry! My family went to Disneyland over the weekend so I was significantly distracted and only finished writing this chapter up last night! I'm also heading out of state to go back for my last year of school at the end of the week so I'm gonna be doing lots of packing.

Anyway, I'm really glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter, I was hoping that I had written Rowan's feelings of anxiety realistically and I was pleased when the reviews came in! **seldomselcouth**,yeah, I always sort of thought that after 300 years, a few hours on a book wouldn't seem like very long at all for Jack! And since when we first meet Jamie in the film, Jack remarks that his book looked interesting, my headcanon has always been that he passed a lot of the past few centuries reading. **soaringphoenix86**, Thanks so much again for your review! And yeah, man, if I was invisible I'd be sneaking into movies (and other places, I'm sure) all the time. **Sayingirl**, haha, don't worry about pointing out my typos, I went back and fixed it! I don't have a beta reader so I'm sure that's not the only error in there! **Somebody** and **vanessa**, thank you for your reviews! And oh hey there, **musichick**, it's nice to see you're back!

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_"You have quite a few strong fears to choose from, don't you? Let's see, let's start you off with a classic, shall we? How do you feel about drowning?"_

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**Chapter Eighteen: Vultures**

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"What are we going to do about them?" Bunny asked North after Jack and Rowan disappeared through the portal. Today had consisted of far too many meetings and far too many discussions, but the over-grown rabbit felt that one last discussion was necessary.

"What do you mean?" North said, confused. "We have already been over this, Jack is going to stand guard at her apartment and keep her safe from the Shadow People."

"That isn't what I meant," Bunny said, stepping aside as several elves ran by with a long string of Christmas lights. Bunny wasn't sure what else they could be decorating, as the entire North Pole was already covered in tinsel and ornaments. "Did you see Jack in there with her? Touching her, the way he talked to her, holding her hand on the way out?"

"He is obviously fond of her," North said with a shrug. "And she was obviously frightened."

_"Very_ fond of her," Bunny said. "And we've stuck them alone together every night indefinitely. They're _teenagers."_

"Technically Jack is over three centuries old," North said. "And Rowan is legally an adult. Are you fearful that they will begin some kind of relationship?"

"It wouldn't be the first time a Guardian has paired off with a Muse. Mortal or not," Bunny said, raising a brow at North. "Aren't _you_ worried? Jack _isn't listening_ to any of us, he's going to get attached to this girl and you know what's going to happen to her."

"She will die. One way or another," North said, nodding along. "What is it you want to do about it, then?"

"I think _you_ need to tell him about Yelena, and then maybe he'll rethink getting so close to her," Bunny said seriously. "Tooth and I have _both_ told him to speak with you, but again, he just _doesn't listen."_

"You want me to use Yelena as a cautionary tale?" North said, crossing his arms before his chest and returning the pooka's gaze critically.

"I wouldn't have worded it that way, but yes, essentially," Bunny said. As North stroked his beard in thought, Bunny began to worry that perhaps he had offended the man. The silence seemed to last forever.

"I will tell Jack about Yelena the next time I see him," North said reluctantly. "But Bunny, _if_ he has feelings for her, and _if_ she returns them… there is not much that can be done at that point."

"We just need to keep him from starting anything more than a friendship with her, you know it's for his own good," Bunny said.

North hesitated for a moment before nodding once more. "It is."

* * *

In three hundred years, Jack Frost had never had to deal with a crying girl. Sure, he'd seen plenty of children fall and burst into tears as they skinned their knees. In recent months, as he gained believers, he was even able to help a few back up and, with a bit of magic, send them off smiling again.

But this was different, _entirely_ different. He had no idea what he should do as he leaned against the wall dividing Rowan's bathroom from the rest of her small studio apartment. Over the sound of the shower running were very clear hysterical sobs. He fidgeted in his spot for a moment, uncomfortable, before finally stepping away from the wall and taking a seat at the dining room table. He could still hear her crying, if faintly, from here.

What was he supposed to do? His only instructions had been to protect Rowan from the Shadow People. Keep her safe from harm. _Behave himself_.

There had been no guidelines on how to handle the situation when the girl he was trusted to care for ducked into the bathroom to cry her eyes out. He'd never encountered Rowan _sad_ before (not that he'd known her very long at all, it surprised him when he remembered it had only been a little over a week).

She'd been angry with him, yes, that was how their whole friendship began. She'd been paranoid, suspicious, sure. Those were all things he could talk his way out of, things he was used to and could handle.

But her sobbing, which she was doing a terrible job trying to hide, revealed nothing but defeat and sadness. What was Jack to do with that?

He racked his memory for any time he might have encountered something like this. What do you do about a crying girl? Tooth came to mind, being perhaps his closest female friend, and he realized that she had never actually shown much vulnerability in the time he'd known her. She was always strong, and while she had shown doubt when her mini fairies had been taken from her, had quickly regained her poise.

He frowned. If Tooth were there, she'd know what to do. She had that sort of maternal instinct, had a way of soothing a worried mind with the right words.

Well, as long as those words weren't "blood and gums."

Melpomene slithered her way back into his memory.

"_Oh, Jack, I know how you've suffered…"_

He made a face. In the time he had spent with the Muse, she had never shown anything genuine, and definitely hadn't shed an honest tear.

Then there was his sister. Much like the other children he'd encountered, she'd had her fair share of tumbles and tears. Most of the time he could get her to calm down by making her laugh. Jokes didn't seem appropriate now, not at all.

He was quickly realizing that he could not use his (admittedly few) past encounters with women as a starting point for this. Rowan wasn't much like them, aside from being some form of a Muse. She was so _cautious_, so analytical. Taking that into consideration, it wasn't surprising that she was scared. She was probably going over every possible way this situation could play out, and the tragic endings would always scream the loudest in a frightened mind.

The running of the water stopped and Jack rose to his feet, watching the door. He could hear some shuffling around from within the bathroom and the sound of Rowan blowing her nose after all the crying she'd just done. It wasn't very long before she opened the door with her hair damp, wearing the sweats and large shirt that served as her pajamas. She dropped the clothes she had changed out of into a hamper in the corner and rubbed at her eyes, finally glancing back at Jack.

Her eyes were bloodshot and sad, circled with faded, smeared remains of eyeliner that had stubbornly remained despite soap and tears. Concern barely had a chance to cross Jack's features before Rowan glanced away, as though embarrassed.

Jack took no more than a second to consider his next move before closing the distance between them and pulling her into his arms. Rowan grew stiff for a moment, taken by surprise, before slowly sliding her arms around him in return.

"I know you're scared," Jack said. "But you're not in this alone, okay? I'm going to be here with you."

He felt Rowan's arms shift so that she could reach for and dab at her eyes. "Thank you," she mumbled, voice shaking slightly..

"No problem," he said, arms still securely around her.

After a moment of hesitation, Rowan spoke again. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this is supposed to be a really tender moment and everything," she said, "but I'm pretty sure you just froze my hair."

Jack winced and let go of the girl, taking a step back to see for himself. Sure enough, her damp hair was now coated in ice and glistening in the lights around the apartment.

"I'm really sorry," he said sheepishly, reaching forward to touch one of the frozen locks. There wasn't much that he could do to _un_freeze her hair. He must have frozen it accidentally in his hasty decision to hug her. "That, uh, wasn't supposed to happen."

"I guess I'm gonna have to start blow drying my hair if you're going to be around every night, huh?" Rowan sighed, lightly touching the jagged edges of her hair before walking over to the bathroom and fishing a hair dryer out from the cupboard beneath the sink.

"So, you don't usually dry your hair," Jack said, walking over and leaning against the door frame.

"No, I damaged my hair enough in high school," Rowan said, plugging the device into the wall and switching it on.

"Then why do you _own_ a hair dryer?" he asked loudly in order to be heard over the sound.

"To dry acrylic paintings faster," she responded as though it were obvious, watching as the frost on her hair began to melt. Once her hair was no longer stiff, she leaned over to better attempt to dry it.

"Right, of course, I mean, why _else_ would someone have one?" Jack tilted his head to get a better look at the tattoo on the back of her neck, now that her hair was flipped over and he could properly see it. "Once Upon A Time," in an elegant script font, the very tattoo that Lorelei Bennett had been upset to discover.

"Don't you have _three_ tattoos?" he asked after a moment, remembering her stating as much at one point. He couldn't remember if it was to him or to Lorelei while he was eavesdropping.

"Yeah, why?" Rowan asked, standing upright once more and flipping her hair back before continuing her attempts to dry it.

"I've only seen two," he said. "The one on your wrist and the one on your neck."

"The last one's usually always covered," Rowan explained, finally turning the hair dryer off.

"Is it in a naughty place?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Little-Miss-Nice-List?"

Rowan rolled her eyes, but smiled. Jack was pleased to see that he had gotten her to smile, at least a little. Maybe he could fit a _few_ jokes in, despite the dire situation. "What, like on my ass? No, it's not."

She grabbed at the hem of her shirt and lifted it up, holding it just below her bust to show Jack the right side of her ribcage. The design featured a large feather quill and a trail of ink that twirled out into other designs, many of which were flowers. There was one design, though, that caught his eye.

"I like the snowflake," he said, eyes still fixed on the tattoo.

"Yeah, well, I got it before I met you so don't go getting a big head about it," she said, rolling her eyes yet again.

"Still, it means you like my work," he grinned. His eyes wandered along the tattoo and he couldn't help but notice the curves of her hip and how nicely the lines of the tattoo wrapped around her form.

"Yeah, yeah, so maybe winter is my favorite season, I always seem to come up with good stories around this time," she said, pulling her shirt back down.

"Does this make me a Muse to a Muse?" he teased.

"I'm not a Muse," Rowan said, walking back into the main room. She flipped a few switches, leaving only the lamp by her bed and the other one near the bookshelf on. "Not really."

"Yeah, you're a lot nicer," Jack said, walking with her. She climbed atop her bed and rubbed at her eyes again. "And you tased me when we first met so that's saying something."

Rowan smiled. "Well I'm glad you don't hate me by association."

"Never," he said.

"How long have you known?" she asked quickly, looking anywhere but Jack. She seemed nervous again.

"Known what? That you're the Mortal Muse?" Jack said. She nodded. "Last night, when Calliope came by to see if it was you."

"So… you weren't hanging around before that because of it," she said hesitantly.

"No, I just wanted to know what happened in your stories, I didn't know anything really about the Mortal Muse until a few days ago. Why?"

"Just… it's nothing, I was just curious," she said, looking back up at him at last. "How's this going to work, then? Are you just gonna stand there and watch me sleep or…?"

Jack furrowed his brow and glanced at her bed, realizing that he had simply assumed the arrangement would be the same as the previous night, when he had accidentally fallen asleep atop her covers. Now that it was brought into question, he realized that was unlikely.

Sharing her bed the previous night had happened only because he happened to be there when he fell asleep. It wasn't as though Rowan had invited him to curl up with her pillows, and had she not fallen asleep before he had, he was certain she would have disapproved. She'd already gotten on his case for creepy behavior in the past and he was fairly certain sharing a bed with someone you were not in a relationship with qualified as "creepy behavior."

He had no creepy intentions, of course. The bed was simply comfortable, and smelled nice. Not to mention, it would be very easy to keep an eye on Rowan if she were less than a foot away the whole night. But he doubted it would go over well if he were to ask to repeat this arrangement again. He felt creepy just thinking about it, honestly.

Beds were supposed to be warm and cozy. He had just accidentally turned her hair into icicles.

"I, um," Jack said. He glanced around, eyes falling on the futon a few feet away. "I'll just hang out over here."

He walked over to the couch and gracefully sat upon it, glancing at the bookshelf beside it and scanning the titles. "I'll probably just busy myself with your collection here if that's okay."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine," Rowan said, pushing her hair back before climbing beneath her blankets.

_"Catch-22_ should do it," he said, pulling the beat up paperback from the shelf.

"Good choice," Rowan smiled softly.

"And if anything happens, I'll, you know, leap into action," Jack said with a shrug.

"Right," she mumbled. Jack watched as she laid down, setting her head on her pillow and adjusting the blankets. "Goodnight, Jack."

"Night, Rowan," he said, fiddling with the book in his hand. He leaned back with his staff in his lap and finally opened to the first page of chapter one. However, he didn't read a word of Yossarian's mischief, not yet. He kept a close eye on Rowan until finally her breathing became steady and her eyes closed. He half-smiled when a pirate ship, crafted from golden dream sand, appeared above her head.

"Thanks for helping out, Sandy," Jack said before finally focusing on the book in his hands.

* * *

What good was a king without a throne?

Pitch sat on an elaborately designed chair in his realm, seeming more relaxed than he had been in months as he leaned back with one hand propping up his chin and the other resting in his lap. He watched the lights on the globe dim and re-illuminate lazily.

"Melpomene, not trying to sneak up on me, are you?" he said suddenly, eyes still fixed on the globe, still seated. The tall, slim woman materialized from thin air before him, the skeletal tragedy mask fixed to her face until she removed it gracefully.

"You're not any fun," she said, settling herself on one of the arms of his chair, her legs draped over his lap.

"I do believe you've already had encounters with _that _spirit," Pitch pointed out, absentmindedly fiddling with the hem of her skirt, still watching the globe.

"Yes, well, Jack wasn't much fun back then either," Melpomene said, watching the Nightmare King closely. She reached forward and ran her finger down the side of his face. His cheeks were not as hollow as they had been the last time she had seen him. His eyes seemed strangely brighter. "You've got more life in you today, Pitch."

He simply smiled. "I know."

"What's happened?" she asked, confused.

"You tell me," he said, glancing back up at her at last. "The Mortal Muse has been located, hasn't she?"

"She has, is she the one that's done this to you?" Melpomene asked, brows furrowed.

"The Mortal Muse is cursed with a vivid imagination, her fear is worth at least ten frightened children," Pitch said, the cynical smile still on his face. "Who is it?"

"Her name is Rowan Sawyer, some girl from Pennsylvania," Melpomene said, combing her fingers through her dark hair casually. "Placed under the personal protection of Jack Frost for an indefinite amount of time."

"They honestly have no idea what else to do, do they?" Pitch said, shaking his head. "They haven't figured out why his staff works against them?"

"They haven't, and the clock is ticking to get in on the alliance. To cut a deal for the information that will stop the Shadow People," said the Muse, still playing with her hair, her mask abandoned in her lap.

"Why do I need to get in on the alliance when her fear is building me back up?" Pitch asked. "Jack Frost can't fix this with a snowball fight. Eventually even her own frightened mind will conjure up nightmares without my assistance and that will only make the fear, as well as myself, _stronger."_

"But not strong enough," Melpomene said, sliding herself into Pitch's lap and leaning her head against his shoulder so that she might speak directly into his ear. Her tone was hoarse as usual, and hushed. "Pitch, what is it the Shadow People want with the Mortal Muse?"

Pitch sighed, knowing that this could not end well. "Her powers to inspire."

"And what do they intend to do with this power?" she said, lightly running her fingers down the side of his neck.

"To inspire fear. Cause Nightmares. Break spirits," Pitch replied.

"Exactly. And what's stopping them from skipping over here and just stealing _your_ ability to do that? Some unspoken respect for the fallen Nightmare King? Whose coat tails they've been riding and whose plan they've adapted without second thought? You are weak enough to be fed upon, even with her fear helping you out. Think about it, Pitch… who needs the Boogie Man when you've got Shadow People running about? They'll render you useless, more so than your current state. They'll snatch your powers away and kill you in the process."

"Stop it," Pitch said, turning his head to face her. She leaned away, watching him innocently as she began to fiddle with her mask. "Stop hissing in my ear as though these thoughts are my own."

"You know it's all true, Pitch," Melpomene said. "You need Rowan Sawyer alive and well just as much as we do. As long as she remains a target, you are not, and her fear is speeding up your recovery."

"I can do nothing to stop the Shadow People, you are well aware of this," Pitch said, rolling his eyes slightly as the Muse leaned up against him again, tracing abstract shapes into his chest with her fingertips.

"But you _know how_, and the Guardians need that information," Melpomene said. "Simply make a deal that they will protect you as well. Once on the right side of the alliance you should be able to secretly give Rowan more nightmares easily. Focus on your recovery."

"They'll never agree to work with me!" Pitch laughed.

"You just need one," Melpomene said, holding up her index finger, "To convince the others. Toothiana is already on the fence about it, even Sanderson is. They'll side with whoever insists we seek your help."

"And I suppose you're assuming Jack Frost will be the swing vote," Pitch said skeptically.

"It certainly won't be Nicholas or Bunnymund," she replied. "And I'm not saying it would be easy to convince Jack, but, I'm sure you could come up with something with some, ah, _help."_

Melpomene closed the small distance between the two of them, pressing her lips against his. Ever so gently, she cupped his head in her hands as her lips moved against his. Tongues traced lips, mouths opened and closed. Melpomene's kisses were always reminiscent of the passionate farewells of lovers in tragic tales. There was a certain desperation, longing.

The kiss was not due to any feelings she had for Pitch, however. No, Pitch was well aware of what she was doing, and it was working. His mind raced, and he opened his eyes suddenly, pulling away as one particular thought fell into his head.

He stood from the throne, walking to the globe and keeping a close eye on North America. Melpomene remained where she sat, smirking as she watched him and lazily tossing her legs across the arm of the chair.

"Got an idea, have we?" she said with a slight laugh.

_"Sudden inspiration,"_ Pitch replied, casting her a glance before returning his attention to the globe. "How does Jack Frost feel about this Rowan Sawyer?"

"He cares very much for her, you could tell he was worried at the meeting," Melpomene said with a roll of the eye.

"It's so excruciatingly easy!" Pitch laughed, turning back to Melpomene. "Jack's staff alone won't save her, I just have to make sure he knows that."

"What do you plan on doing?"

"I'm the Boogie Man," said Pitch. "I'm going to scare her. I'm going to scare _him_. What greater tragedy is there than to grow close to someone, only to have them taken away from you? I need to make Jack so scared for her that he's willing to work with _me_ in order to keep her safe."

"How do you intend to do that?" Melpomene asked, eyebrow raised. "What with Jack guarding her and everything?"

"I'm the Boogie Man," Pitch said again, taking a few steps back and disappearing into the shadows. "How do you think?"

"Pitch?" Melpomene asked, glancing around for the man. She was met only with silence, for Pitch was already on the move, venturing into the world above his lair for the first time in months. He was cautious and quick as he moved, knowing full well that the Shadow People used the shadows and other dark places to hide as he did.

It was becoming more and more apparent, the threat they posed to him as well. He attempted not to think of it as he crept his way into the apartment complex in the small college town, silently following the fear to its source on the third floor. He traveled within the shadows, squeezing beneath doors until he found himself inside the dimly lit apartment. He emerged from the shadows, standing tall and in the open only when it was clear that Jack was in no state to attack.

The boy had fallen asleep on the couch, a paperback propped open on his chest as he slumbered. Pitch smirked at the sight, finding that the Guardians had picked just an _excellent_ guard for their prized mortal.

The mortal in question was currently sleeping in the bed, glowing dream sand forming shapes above her head. Pitch watched the girl for a moment and smiled.

"Ah yes," he whispered softly to himself. "You have quite a few strong fears to choose from, don't you? Let's see, let's start you off with a classic, shall we? How do you feel about drowning?"

Lightly, Pitch touched the glistening dream sand and smiled as it turned black, and Rowan winced. She fidgeted as she slept and held her breath. Knowing that the need to breathe would wake her up soon enough, Pitch quickly disappeared into the shadows and slid beneath her bed, lingering near some rejected sketchbooks and loose change that had fallen.

He listened carefully as the girl groaned in her sleep and continued to toss and turn.

* * *

Rowan sat upright, bloodshot eyes shooting open and gasping for air. She gripped at her blankets with one hand while pushing sweat-soaked bangs out of her face with the other, still breathing heavily.

"It was just a dream," she told herself, wiping at the tears that had once again begun to form at her eyes. Her pulse was quick and showed no signs of slowing down. She pulled her knees close to her chest and slid her arms around them, continuing with her hasty breaths in an attempt to calm down.

"Rowan, you okay?" came Jack's tired voice from the couch. She glanced up in time to see him sit upright and set the book down on the coffee table. Effortlessly, he flew over to her bed, floating above her with a yawn.

"It's nothing," she said, wincing once she heard how hoarse her voice was.

"Then why are you so freaked out?" Jack asked, settling himself in a seated position beside her.

"It was just a bad dream, I'm… I'm fine," Rowan said, rubbing at one of her eyes again.

"You must have really worked yourself up, Sandy was sending you dreams to try and ease your mind," Jack said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "It shouldn't have ended so badly, especially with Pitch in hiding…"

"I think I'm just… stressed out. I used to get dreams like this a lot when I was younger," Rowan said, wiping at her eyes again, trying desperately not to cry.

"What happened?"

"This is all so silly," she groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"How is it silly?"

"I'm twenty, I shouldn't be ready to cry over a nightmare, I shouldn't be waking you up in the middle of the night because I had one."

"A lot's been happening, I'm not gonna think any less of you because you're scared," Jack said, moving his hand in favor of sliding his arm around her shoulder instead. "So what happened in the dream?"

Rowan hesitated before shifting slightly so that she could place her head on his shoulder, which seemed to briefly take the winter spirit by surprise. He recovered quickly, however, propping his staff against the bedside table and flicking her bangs away from her face with his now-free hand.

"It started off basically playing off of what I have planned for the next part of my story, with Jack and Miss Gates speaking to the other witch to find out where to start looking for their treasures. I guess that's the part the Sandman was behind. They were getting ready to steal this ship and… suddenly _I_ was Miss Gates, I guess, instead of an observer, and I fell overboard. Everything was suddenly dark, and I tried to swim to the surface but I didn't know if I was even swimming in the right direction."

She took another deep breath, watching as the air in front of her fogged from being so close to Jack. "It felt like I was going in circles. Nothing I did was helping, my lungs felt like they were on fire, all I could do was panic."

"Today was rough, and you think _way_ too much, it's no wonder you're having a hard time while you sleep, too," Jack said, lightly running his hand over her hair. Rowan was relieved to find that he was not freezing it in the process. "It's going to be fine, though, it was just a dream."

"Better to think too much than not enough," Rowan sighed, closing her tired eyes. She could feel the cold through his jacket, but it soothed the headache she had from all the sobbing she'd done. In fact, any discomfort she anticipated from his lack of body heat was nearly non-existent. "Drowning dreams are supposed to mean you're overwhelmed by something, and that seems pretty accurate."

"Yeah? What do pirates mean?" Jack asked.

"Wanting to take risks and have adventures, I think," she yawned. Jack smirked.

"Sounds about right. You stress yourself out too much to take risks," he teased.

"I can't help it," she mumbled. "It's not like it's irrational stress."

"It's not," he agreed. "But I just don't want you to make it out to be worse than it is. Worrying yourself into having nightmares isn't going to help anything."

"I don't know what else to do. I can't do anything to defend myself," Rowan mumbled, eyes still closed. Her pulse seemed to finally have returned to normal. Now she was just exhausted.

"But I can," he assured her. "You doing all right now?"

"I think so," she said.

"So, uh, should I leave you alone and go back to the couch, or…?" Jack said hesitantly.

Rowan shifted slightly where she was, still leaning against him, neglecting to answer his question for a moment. She still worried that she was now a chore for him, his presence at her apartment an obligation. But she liked having him where he was, with his arm around her.

For the first time since she learned what was happening, she felt safe.

She slid her arm around his waist and lightly shook her head. "Can you stay here?" she breathed.

"You sure?"

She nodded.

"Are you sure you're not half asleep and talking nonsense? Rowan?"

Rowan did not respond, however, already sleeping again. Jack sighed and shifted, as though considering trying to pry himself away, as though when Rowan awoke she'd change her mind. Finally, he simply leaned back and got himself comfortable, arm still around her shoulders.

"This is a slippery slope, Frost," he muttered to himself, resting his head against hers. "Never gonna hear the end of it from Bunny."


	19. Just Friends

A/N: Another late-ish chapter guys, sorry! Moving sucks, and when I haven't been unpacking shit I've been sleeping (these long naps are a habit I need to drop like whoa). Anyway, just finished this chapter up, thanks again for the reviews last time around! You'll all probably learn Yelena's full story before Melpomene and Jack's story, I think. All in due time! Also, **soaringphoenix86**, funny you bring up Cupid, I want to bring him in here at some point, already sorted out his back story! Just gotta see if he fits anywhere.

* * *

_At least there were handbooks, pamphlets and medical professionals that knew how to deal with that and make those demons go away. This was far more complicated, far more mysterious._

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: Just Friends**

* * *

The studio had a cork board lining one of the walls, covered in final projects that had been meticulously pinned and re-pinned until they were level. There was a generous amount of space around the more impressive pieces, no one wishing to be directly compared to such talent.

Final critique was already underway, with chairs dragged and arranged to be closer to the pieces. Every now and again, someone would stand up, approach the piece, and examine it more closely before returning to their seat to make their comment.

Rowan sat in her chair, one leg folded beneath her and glancing off toward the window every now and again. It was snowing fairly heavily. Not enough for a snow day, though, definitely not during finals.

_"I really enjoy how you've saturated the focal point more than everything else. And how you've made this a sort of radial composition, it really brings your eye in."_

They were only an hour into class, the critique only started a half hour earlier. It was going to be a painfully long day, Rowan could already tell as she began tugging some small strands of hair into a braid. One strand over the other, over the other, over the other.

_"The perspective is confusing me right here, it seems like this isn't going to the same vanishing point as everything else, and the shading is inconsistent over here. I feel like you probably did that part last and rushed?"_

Physically she was in the room, physically she was present for the critique, but everyone's comments sounded as though they were coming from somewhere far, far away. It was as though cotton had been stuffed into her ears.

Sunset was at about 4:30, she'd looked it up earlier. For the time being she was safe, for the time being she needed no outside protection in the form of Jack Frost. For the time being he'd be somewhere else entirely and she could pretend that nothing supernatural was happening.

Shadow People weren't trying to find her and eat her soul. Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy didn't exist. She wasn't a Mortal Muse, with powers that she had no way to access or control. Her mortality didn't rely on how she happened to die. There weren't any immediate threats to her life. She hadn't seen some kind of shadow dart out from beneath her bed before she left for school.

She hadn't woken up that morning in Jack Frost's arms.

She hadn't taken a few minutes to lie there and enjoy being where she was. She hadn't taken note that he smelled like Christmas trees. Real, pine, Christmas trees, not the synthetic one her parents had. She hadn't carefully pried herself away and disabled the alarm that had yet to go off in order to avoid waking the boy again.

She hadn't made him _coffee_ before he left as the sun finally rose.

She didn't miss him now, certainly not.

Rowan sighed. If only any of that were true, if only she believed any of it. The fact that her life was being threatened kept darting to the front of her thoughts, no matter how much she tried shoving it away.

Brushing her teeth this morning? Something's trying to kill you. Unlocking her car? Don't forget to run the defrost, also, something's trying to kill you. Pinning her piece to the stupid cork board? Hey, Rowan, something's trying to kill you.

When she wasn't thinking about the Shadow People, she was thinking about Jack, which only served to confuse her. Why did she care so much that he wasn't visiting because he wanted to, but because he had to now? When he had already admitted to being there by choice before? She was so concerned about not being an obligation to a boy she had met when he _broke into her apartment_. It made no sense.

Why did she just want to sit with him? Lean against his shoulder, smell the pine and listen to another war story?

"Rowan. Rowan? Rowan!"

"Hey, Sawyer," Shirley said, jabbing Rowan in the side with her elbow. Rowan jumped in surprise and finally noticed the others in the class watching her curiously, the professor raising a brow at her.

"How long has she been trying to talk to me?" Rowan whispered to Shirley, referring to their professor.

"A while now," Shirley replied.

"Welcome back, Rowan," said their professor. "Don't forget participation is part of your final grade. Now, why don't you tell us about _your_ piece?"

"Right, right," Rowan said, straightening in her seat before beginning to speak about her drawing on the wall.

While she spoke, however, she couldn't help but remember yet again, _something was trying to kill her._

* * *

Inches of snow had fallen in Burgess at the crack of dawn without warning. Grumbling citizens fumbled with shovels and snow blowers in desperate attempts to clear their driveways and surrounding sidewalks. Lorelei Bennett had turned the television to the news while sipping her morning coffee; Jamie had been closely examining a treasure map illustrated on the back of his cereal box.

This was when the news anchor began the only news segment that a child of Jamie's age would care about: School Closures. It seemed that the entire county had chosen to shut down public schools for the day due to hazardous driving conditions. After being forced to finish his breakfast and reminded to brush his teeth by Lorelei, Jamie pulled on his coat and hat before rushing outside.

He hadn't been surprised to find his friends gathered in the clearing where Jack had created their sledding course. The ramps were now covered in snow but still functional. After inquiring if any of his friends had seen Jack, they stated that they hadn't, leaving Jamie with a frown.

Jack had to have been behind the snow day, so why wasn't he there? He hadn't been around much lately, not since it was revealed that Rowan could see him. Jamie had half a mind to call his cousin and demand his friend back, or perhaps send Jack a strongly-worded letter.

With some prodding from the other children, however, Jamie disregarded those thoughts and began sledding through the course with the others, laughing the whole way. The group had begun climbing back up to the start of the course when each of them was suddenly pelted with a snowball. It only took seconds to locate the cackling winter spirit, hovering near the top of the hill.

An epic snowball fight resulted with sleds and other children used as shields. It was only when Pippa and Monty surrendered, coated in snow from the others, that the fight finally came to an end. Claude and Caleb immediately went back to sledding while the others took a moment either brush the snow off themselves or attempt to make snow angels.

"Thanks for the snow day, Jack!" Pippa said, pulling off her hat in order to remove the clumps of snow that had refused to let go.

"Yeah, Jack, thank you!" Cupcake added.

"You're welcome," Jack said with a shrug. "Figured you guys were over-due."

"Where were you earlier? Usually you stick around after causing a storm," Jamie asked, taking a seat on his sled.

"Spreading more blizzards, I've got to cover the whole northern hemisphere this time of year, you know," Jack said. "Finished early, so I came back."

"Finished _early?_" Jamie laughed. "Since when do you have a schedule?"

"I, uh, I've got a new job for the Guardians that I need to do during the nights now, so I'm taking care of the blizzards and snow days during the day now," Jack said hesitantly.

"What kind of job?" Monty asked, desperately trying to use his mittens to clean the smudges from his glasses.

"Pitch isn't up to something again, is he?" Jamie asked. Claude and Caleb, who had just climbed the hill again, paused to listen rather than tumble down the course once more.

"No! No, he's still in hiding," Jack said immediately, shaking his head. "It's nothing you guys have to worry about, really."

"So your new job is like how our dad works graveyard shift?" Caleb asked.

"Pretty much."

"How come you haven't come by during the day in a while, then? It's snowed but you haven't visited," Cupcake pointed out.

"He's probably visiting my cousin," Jamie said, casting Jack an accusatory glance. Jack opened his mouth to respond, but soon closed it, and smiled sheepishly. Pippa and Cupcake cast each other a look before breaking out into giggles.

"Jack and Rowan, sitting in a tree!" the girls sang immediately. _"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"_

Jamie frowned, the other boys gagged as the girls continued to giggle and taunt. Jack rolled his eyes, "Rowan and I are friends. I visit her, well, um, _sometimes_. There's no sitting in trees or anything else from that song."

"_First comes love, then comes marriage-"_

Jack seemed to grow even paler, if possible, from even the joking mention of marriage. "Really, guys, just friends."

"So you don't think she's pretty?" Pippa asked.

"You don't _want_ to kiss her?" Cupcake added. Again, the boys gagged.

"I plead the fifth," Jack said, twirling his staff about in his hands. Jamie watched the spirit curiously, finding that he seemed to be deep in thought about something.

"… you're not _thinking_ about kissing my cousin now, are you?" Jamie said, making a face.

"Don't look so disgusted at the idea, she isn't _my_ cousin," Jack said. "And again, I plead the fifth."

Pippa leaned over to whisper something into Cupcake's ear and both girls immediately began giggling again, glancing at Jack who watched them with a cocked brow.

"Why would Jack spend all his time _kissing girls_ when he could be flying around doing super cool winter stuff?" Claude asked, spreading his arms and running about as though to demonstrate flying.

"He makes a fair point," Jack shrugged.

"Uh, because Jack's not still afraid of cooties like _some_ boys," Pippa said.

"Cooties are real!" Monty said immediately, adjusting his glasses. "My mom said so!"

"Your mom also doesn't want you using the school drinking fountains," Jamie pointed out. _"Or_ using doorknobs with your bare hands."

Jack kneeled down to scoop snow into his hands, the children still distracted, before he stood upright. "This conversation is boring," he said, feigning a yawn before pelting Jamie's head with the snowball.

"Oh no," Monty said, rushing behind Pippa to use her as a shield as Jamie grinned and the others quickly began forming their own snowballs for yet another fight.

* * *

"Mel?"

Melpomene didn't bother glancing up. She leaned against the railing of an old and abandoned bridge, covered in snow. The river that ran beneath the bridge, the river that held her gaze, was completely frozen.

"What do you want, 'Lia?" Melpomene grumbled. Thalia approached the other Muse, pulling herself atop the railing to sit. The moonbeam that had been following Thalia closely hovered nearby beside the one that had been assigned to Melpomene.

"I just want to talk to you about this Pitch Black business," Thalia said, fiddling with the ribbons on her mask.

"If you're about to tell me to stop spending time with him-" Melpomene started.

"Oh like you'll listen to me when it comes to that anyway," Thalia said, waving away Melpomene's comment. The dark-haired woman continued staring at the frozen water, rather than the younger Muse seated on the railing.

"Do I ever listen to you about _anything_, 'Lia?" Melpomene pointed out.

"You listened to me when I told you that we should go hang out with Will, we were his favorite Muses, remember?" Thalia said, nudging Melpomene's shoulder playfully.

"Calliope still insists that _she_ was," Melpomene rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, so was a big fan of meter and rhyme, it was still _us_ that brought people to the playhouse," Thalia said, her expression smug. "And we found him first, Calli came by later."

"I cannot argue with something so _painfully_ true," Melpomene said. "And fine, fine, _you_ were the one who insisted we lend a hand to that writer."

"Precisely, I'm not _entirely_ good-for-nothing," Thalia smirked. "So, about Pitch."

"What is it?" Melpomene sighed, rolling her eyes slightly.

"I just don't want you getting yourself into trouble over him, Mel. I mean, I know that's your thing and you can't really _help_ it but maybe try not to push it so much the next time we have a meeting with the Guardians? It's just pissing them off," Thalia said. She paused, then added, "Not that it's not hilarious to see Bunnymund yell at you, because it is. It's funny when he gets mad in general because he's just so big and fluffy and cute."

"You _know_ we need his help," Melpomene said, still not looking away from the river.

Thalia was silent for a moment before nodding slowly, though she knew Melpomene couldn't see her do this. "We do. But I also understand why the Guardians are hesitant and holding grudges. I just don't want you to get yourself a bad deal by _insisting_ every five minutes they kiss and make up."

"I'm not asking them to be friends, just to cut a deal," Melpomene said. "And it's not as if the Guardians can just decide not to protect me because I side with Pitch, I'm still a Muse."

"I'm just worried that you'll push Calliope over the edge. You know how torn apart she was when it looked like Pitch killed Sandy a few months back."

"She can't kick me out of the alliance," Melpomene said. "The conditions that _she and Sanderson_ set forward were that all Guardians and all Muses would be part of the alliance. Technically, even Rowan Sawyer is part of it now. No matter how much I piss them off, I'm still part of this dysfunctional sorority."

"But _she and Sanderson_ started this alliance, why _couldn't_ she just decide that you're not worth the trouble, Mel?" Thalia asked.

"You know she won't do that," Melpomene said. "You can't exist without me, and vice-versa. And if any one of us falls to the Shadow People, it's a death sentence for the rest of us. _That's_ why I'm pushing the deal with Pitch so much."

"For all of us," Thalia said. "You really _aren't_ just being antagonistic for the sake of it, are you?"

"Maybe a little," Melpomene smirked, finally glancing back at Thalia, their grey eyes meeting.

"Aw, Mel, you like us," Thalia said, climbing down from the railing and pulling the taller Muse into a hug. Melpomene stiffened and made a face at the action before lightly patting Thalia on the back.

"I never said that, and you're pushing it," Melpomene sighed.

Thalia released Melpomene from her grasp and began fastening her mask onto her face. "Fine, fine, I'll leave you alone. You should get going too, it looks like the sun's setting."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll leave in a minute," Melpomene said.

"See you around, Mel," Thalia said before disappearing from the spot. Melpomene simply stared at the area that Thalia had been standing in moments before.

"I thought she'd never leave," came Pitch's smooth voice from somewhere behind Melpomene. She turned to find him gliding toward her with a small smile on his face. His pace was still slower than it had once been, but the visit to Rowan Sawyer's apartment the night before had obviously done him some good.

"How are you enjoying the outside world?" Melpomene yawned.

"It would be far more fun if I weren't worried about Shadow People lurking about in the night," Pitch sighed. "But I suppose you know all about that."

"All too well," Melpomene replied. "But it looks like visiting the Mortal Muse has strengthened you, if slightly."

"It has," Pitch nodded. "Everything went smoothly, Jack took the bait, but when she's alone her fear still persists."

"Congratulations, this is already going better than the plan you worked centuries on," the Muse said. Pitch narrowed his eyes at the woman, clearly unamused.

"Yes, well, I am actually in need of some assistance with _this_ plan."

"The great Nightmare King is asking for _my_ help?" Melpomene said, hand to her chest and looking surprised.

"If you want this to work, you will do as I ask," Pitch said.

"What is it you ask?" Melpomene asked, brow raised.

"I can push them through Rowan's fears alone, I need _you_ to work on Jack," he said.

"Why's that?" Melpomene asked. "Couldn't you just give _him_ a nightmare too?"

"He thinks that Rowan's worked herself up so much that _she_ is causing her own nightmares; all the Guardians believe that I am still in hiding, and we need to _keep_ it that way if I'm going to barter with them. If I give him a nightmare, he'll know it's me, he'll know that I gave Rowan hers and _I_ will become the enemy rather than the Shadow People," Pitch explained. "Therefore, I need you to plant frightful thoughts into his head."

"Jack wants nothing to do with me and I have to come in contact with him to manipulate his thoughts. How am I supposed to do that?" Melpomene sighed. "And it's not like he doesn't know that's what I _do."_

"Simple, you won't be _you,"_ Pitch said, waving his hand so that some black nightmare sand appeared before his face, circling his eyes like a mask.

Melpomene pulled out her mask and glanced down at it.

"Catch him while he's sleeping, disguise yourself. If he wakes up, simply lull him back to sleep and manipulate any doubts about who you are away," Pitch said.

"Disguise myself? As whom?"

"Who would he be least surprised to find in Rowan Sawyer's apartment?" Pitch asked.

Melpomene smiled softly before placing her mask to her face. A moment later, when she pulled her mask away, she was the mirror image of Rowan Sawyer, right down to the freckles.

"Just as long as he doesn't catch on to my voice," Melpomene said.

"Perfect," Pitch smiled, flicking away some of the now-burgundy bangs from her face.

* * *

The sun hadn't quite set yet, but the lights in Rowan's apartment were already on. She hadn't been home long and had settled down on her bed in the hopes of relaxing. She was failing, resorting to fiddling with her phone instead. She frowned at the screen, re-reading the text she had received from Shirley moments earlier. "Are you okay?" it read, "You seemed stressed today."

What a loaded question _that_ was. Was Rowan okay? Absolutely not, and evidently she was terrible at hiding this fact lately. Once their professor had decided to give the class a fifteen minute break during the critique, Rowan soon found herself locked inside the girl's bathroom, leaning over the sink and forcing herself to take deep, even breaths. She had ignored the knocking at the door and tried not to cry, begged her heart to slow down.

_Dark creatures are trying to kill you! You are going to die! You are going to die! You're going to be put through the worst emotional pain imaginable and then you are going to die!_

She had forced a few comments the rest of critique but hadn't spoken nearly as much as she usually did. _You're going to die! You're going to get marked down for lack of participation and then you are going to die!_

She had rushed out of the classroom as soon as possible, not bothering to acknowledge Shirley or any of the other students who attempted to talk to her on her way out. Of course Shirley would text her and ask. Rowan would have done the same thing had the roles been reversed.

"I'm fine, just felt sort of sick today," she mumbled aloud as she typed her response before finally sending it off to her friend. She and Shirley talked about everything but now she just _couldn't_. She couldn't tell her that Shadow People were looking for her with intentions of killing her. She couldn't tell her that it was because she was a "Mortal Muse."

She certainly couldn't tell her that Jack Overland, the boy she had supposedly just met in Burgess and given her phone number to was not actually a typical boy. He didn't even have a phone. He was Jack Frost, and he was in charge of making sure that she _didn't_ get consumed by dark entities running wild.

If Rowan told her any of that, Shirley would make sure that Rowan found herself in some sort of mental facility or got tested for drugs. Rowan knew this because again, had the situation been reversed, she'd have done the same thing.

How nice it would have been to have actually been under the influence of some hallucinogenic. At least there were handbooks, pamphlets and medical professionals that knew how to deal with that and make those demons go away. This was far more complicated, far more mysterious.

Rowan didn't like keeping secrets like this, but she didn't exactly have much choice.

Tapping at her window drew her attention away from her phone. She shuffled to the window before sliding it open and watching as Jack gracefully floated inside.

"Honey, I'm home," he said casually, landing on her couch.

"And here I am without dinner on the table," Rowan said sarcastically, he clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "How was your day, _Dear?"_

"Oh, you know, made some blizzards," Jack said with a shrug.

"Oh right, I saw on the internet earlier that the temperature patterns on the map formed the shape of a snowflake. Meteorologists are just _baffled._"

"Did you like that?" he smiled. "I got the idea when we were having coffee."

"Very creative," she said, sitting down beside him on the couch. "I noticed the snowflake was very similar to the one I have tattooed."

"Was it?" Jack shrugged, still smiling. "I also stopped by Burgess today to hang out with the kids, it's been a good few days."

Rowan looked worried. "You didn't tell Jamie what's going on, did you?"

Jack immediately shook his head. "Nah, I mentioned that I had a new job for the Guardians that I had to do every night but I figured there wasn't any reason to worry any of them by telling them about the Shadow People or your involvement."

"Good," she sighed. "Jamie does not need to get mixed up in this."

"He won't, don't worry," Jack said, leaning back, "But I think he's a bit jealous of us spending so much time together."

"Jealous of who, me or you?" Rowan said, confused.

"I'm not sure, I think it's just the time we're spending _without_ him is all," he said.

"Aw, poor kid, I didn't mean to steal his friend away," Rowan said.

"I think he's doing better after a few snowball fights, he seemed in higher spirits when I left," Jack assured her. "Again, don't worry so much."

"It's so much easier said than done," Rowan sighed. She winced as a small snowflake hit the side of her face before smiling and laughing slightly, her spirits immediately raised. "Jack! Don't do that!"

"Don't do what?" he smiled at her innocently.

"I'm trying to be stressed out here!" she said, still smiling.

"I don't know anyone who would rather be stressed out than have some fun," Jack said with a smirk.

"You can't just magic away my legitimate feelings, that's kind of messed up," she said, playfully shoving him.

"I'm not trying to invalidate your feelings," he said, lightly shoving her back. "But you probably spent the whole damn day stressing yourself out, I think you can afford five minutes of smiling."

Rowan didn't respond vocally, choosing to roll her eyes and shove Jack yet again. This time he retaliated by reaching for her sides, which confused her until she realized his planned attack: Tickling.

"S-Stop!" she laughed, trying and failing to shove him away.

"What's the problem? I'm not using magic this time," he taunted, leaning over her.

"Smartass, c-cut it out! Your hands are _freezing,"_ she said, still laughing as she reached for the sides of his torso in an attempt to fight fire with fire.

"You have to ask nicer than that!" he said, now laughing himself as she fought back. Each of them squirmed beneath the other's hands, laughing until their balance was finally lost and they both went tumbling off the couch, Jack smacking his head on the coffee table as they went.

"Ouch, motherf-!" he started, stopping short as he reached to rub his head. Rowan was almost unsurprised to find the awkward position in which they had landed, with Jack beneath her and their faces mere inches apart. Of _course._

She could feel her cheeks turning pink. Jack smiled nervously.

It wasn't like that morning, now that they were both awake (and one of them was potentially injured, it seemed that Jack hurt himself a lot in her apartment) it was weird. She couldn't just lie there on top of him with their faces so devastatingly close.

His eyes really were a frustrating shade of blue; it wasn't fair.

"I, uh, guess we should call this a stalemate," Rowan said vaguely grabbing for the edge of the coffee table and pulling herself back to her feet. She offered Jack a hand, which he gladly took in order stand up himself. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to avoid all the tables in this place is what I'm learning," he said.

"That's what you get for starting an unprovoked tickle-fight," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, obviously _I'm_ the immature one," Jack said sarcastically. "And it was not unprovoked, you started the shoving match."

"You started it when you started messing around with your magical antidepressant snowflakes!" she laughed.

"You started _that_ because you worry about literally _everything,"_ Jack said, laughing as well.

"You're impossible!"

"_You're _impossible!"

Rowan would never admit it to Jack but the past few minutes, what with his snowflakes and the tickling and the _oh no, what do I do, he's like three inches away from me_, she hadn't thought about the Shadow People. She _had_ been happier. Her mortality hadn't crossed her mind, not at all.

It was nice, even now that their laughter was dying down and they caught their breath.

"Hey, I wanted to, uh, run something by you," Rowan said suddenly.

"Yeah?" Jack asked, sitting back on the couch again.

"So I know that Santa- I mean, North- told us that we shouldn't leave the apartment after it gets dark," Rowan said.

"_Shouldn't_," Jack emphasized.

"Right," Rowan said. "Well, Friday night is the opening ceremony for the Winter Exhibition."

"Right, you got a piece in there," Jack nodded.

"Yes," she said. "And I mean, I was going to ask you to stop by _before_ all this happened because I kind of wanted you to see my piece. But now since you're basically my bodyguard and it will be dark at that point…"

"I'll go with you to the show, I mean, people will probably think there's a draft or something but most people there shouldn't believe in me so I should be basically invisible," he said.

"Great, I mean, I just didn't want to miss it since it's the first time I've gotten my work into a juried show and everything," Rowan said. "It starts at six but the award ceremony isn't until seven so I'll probably leave here like six-thirty."

"What do you get if you win?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, I probably won't win anything, I'm a sophomore," Rowan said, waving the notion away with her hand. "But you get a certificate and I think there's a cash prize and it looks good on a resume."

"What's your piece, anyway? You never told me," Jack pointed out.

"It's a surprise," Rowan said, smirking as he frowned in disappointment. "Also, the next morning I'm going to drive back home to see my parents."

Jack nodded along, "Right, so I'm going to be hanging out over there every night instead."

"Right," she said. "I'm sure my dad is going to have something to say about my heating bill lately. Whenever you're here, the heat kicks into full gear."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Jack smiled.

"It's fine, worst-case scenario I get a lecture," she shrugged. "Anyway, I guess I should probably try to eat something, I've just had coffee today…"

"Yes, that's something else I've heard is necessary for survival," Jack smiled, reaching for the copy of _Catch-22_ on the coffee table and flipping it open to the page he'd dog-eared the night before. Rowan couldn't help glancing in his direction every now and again as she shuffled through her pantry.

She was becoming used to him being around already, and this worried her.


	20. Of Masques and Martyrs

A/N: Guys, do you know what this is? It is the _twentieth chapter in this story!_ This is a big deal because 1) this means I have managed to stay committed to this thing without getting disenchanted or bored, and that's really exciting and 2) I have not dropped the f-bomb within this story for _twenty chapters_. I curse like a sailor outside this story, it's sort of ridiculous (although I am still considering bumping this fic's rating up to M at some point).

Anyway, you guys get this chapter early this week because right now I am at my Uncle's house and actually have access to the internet. I will soon be returning to my own apartment where I will finish the last of my unpacking and have no internet access until the cable dude comes in a couple days.

As far as last chapter's reviews go, thank you all for taking the time to leave me your thoughts, as always! Yes, the "Will" that Melpomene and Thalia spoke so fondly of was Shakespeare. It also pleases me that Melpomene has stirred up such reactions, more from her in this chapter. Also glad you guys enjoyed the Burgess kids, gotta acknowledge them sometimes, right? (Cupcake for president). **seldomselcouth**, I'm super pleased that "Rowack" is catching on, haha. I also think you are the first person to admit to outright liking Mel. **Lani-kins125** is a new reviewer, thanks for leaving your thoughts! And yes, Rowan braids her hair as a nervous habit.

* * *

_"Don't worry, Jack, just go back to sleep. Everything is fine."_

* * *

**Chapter Twenty: Of Masques and Martyrs**

* * *

The roof of Rowan's apartment complex was rarely ever visited, save for a random maintenance worker. It was much like the top of any other building, faded by the sun and covered in cobwebs. Melpomene never minded the cobwebs, finding that when you hid in dark places, they were not uncommon.

She paced the roof, the moonbeam assigned to her lurking close behind. When she had glanced in the window earlier, she had found that Rowan and Jack were still awake, but fading. She need only wait a while longer.

Clouds shifted, bringing the moon into view. Melpomene glanced up as the lighting changed. She sighed, shifting her weight uncomfortably in response before crossing her arms before her chest.

"Don't look at me like that, Tsar Lunar," Melpomene said, looking down at the roof rather than directly at the moon. "I do not follow you, nor would I wish to. Despite our alliance, I am loyal to the sun, and surely you know I am not the only one."

The moon continued shining down on her, as though staring her down.

"Oh, are you surprised that someone dares not think well of you? It amazes me that those you watch over think so highly of you. You've cursed them with responsibilities they never wanted, immortality they were not prepared for. They should resent you, and yet they go to you for guidance and sing your praises. Stockholm Syndrome at it's finest.

"You must be thinking that the sun does this to his Muses, so why am I so bitter at you? Apollo does not pretend to have the best interests of the human race in mind. He does not appoint Guardians while doing nothing to guard his chosen few from harm. The sun never acted like we should be grateful for what he's done."

Melpomene took a step forward, finally looking straight up at the moon. "And now you're upset that I have plans to manipulate Jack again. You thought that I was done, you think that I've put the poor boy through enough. But let's be honest, _Manny,_ if you truly wanted to protect him from me, you'd be doing more than glaring down at me from a world away.

"You could have stopped this the _first_ time around, you could have warned him to stay away from me. You could have sent a helping hand to guide him away but instead you watched in silence as that lonely spirit fell for my tricks. Alone, desperate, and sad because of the immortality _you_ granted him without another word."

Lightly setting her hands on her hips, she continued, "You love a good tragedy just as much as I do, as much as the sun does. You wrote the tragedy of Jack Frost, _you_ gave me material to work with. You have no room to look down your craters at me."

Her moonbeam seemed to twitch, as though uncomfortable, and Melpomene smiled. "Aw, I've upset you greatly, haven't I? You want to call off my moonbeam. But you're royalty, Tsar Lunar, royalty to your core, even if your only subjects are now misfits with some magic tricks. You know that would be bad politics. And what's most important, you know that Pitch's plan has to work for whatever plan _you_ have lined up, doesn't it? Jack has to suffer, yet again, and though you may want to be a better leader to him, you know it must be done."

Melpomene pulled out her mask, setting it in front of her face for a time before removing it once more, her appearance transformed into Rowan's. Big brown eyes, burgundy-dyed hair, and beauty marks near the inner corner of her eye and the side of her cheek.

"So let me do my work," Melpomene said, setting her mask to her face again. This time when she pulled it away, she was inside the dimly lit apartment, Jack and Rowan asleep, as she had hoped for. The Muse tucked her mask away, stopping at the mirror on the nearby wall and running her fingers through her hair. She examined her reflection in the dim light for a moment, satisfied that she was a convincing Rowan Sawyer. All she had to do was make sure that she blocked Jack's view of the real thing, currently slumbering in her bed.

Silently, Melpomene approached the couch that Jack had fallen asleep on. He still had those dark circles under his eyes that she remembered. She couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips as she realized this. Gently, she reached forward and pushed back his disheveled bangs. He shifted only slightly under her touch, and she held her breath for a moment.

Ideally, he'd continue sleeping the entire visit, her disguise unnecessary.

Lightly placing the back of her hand to the side of his face, she watched him closely and began thinking as clearly as she could.

_You'll never be able to protect her. You're not strong enough. You're not a good enough fighter. The victory over Pitch was a fluke, children cannot bail you out this time. Being the Guardian of Fun means nothing. You cannot protect her. You are not strong enough._

As he winced in his sleep, Melpomene continued, placing her other hand to his other cheek.

_If she dies, the Muses will fall. If the Muses fall, the Guardians will soon after. The world will dissolve in to darkness and despair. It will be all your fault. You do not have enough information. You cannot possibly protect her. You are going to make a mess of things like you always do. Why are you even a Guardian? They have placed her fragile life into your clumsy hands. You cannot do this. You cannot do this._

His eyes opened, if slightly and Melpomene paused, watching for his next move.

"Rowan? Is something wrong?" he mumbled, reaching to rub at his tired eyes.

"Shhh," Melpomene said, careful to keep her voice at a whisper. She had never heard Rowan speak before, had no means of attempting to mimic it. "Go back to sleep."

_You will never be able to protect her. If she dies you will have only yourself to blame. You need help. You can't do this alone. They've chosen the wrong guard. You cannot do this. _

"Rowan, why-" he started, beginning to sit up. Melpomene grabbed for his shoulders to stop him, careful to hold eye contact. He could not see Rowan in her bed, he could not find out this was a trick.

"Don't worry, Jack, just go back to sleep," she whispered, leaning forward and resting her forehead to his. "Everything is fine."

_Everything is not fine. The Shadow People want her dead and the only reason they didn't do more damage to you is because Toothiana was there to pull you away. How could they trust you with her care? You will never be able to protect her. She will die, and it will be because of you._

Jack groaned putting a hand to the side of his head and massaging it, as though he was suddenly suffering from a headache.

"Go back to sleep, Jack," Melpomene whispered, leaning close and lightly kissing his cheek.

_YOU CANNOT PROTECT HER. YOU ARE WORTHLESS. YOU CANNOT DO THIS. YOU ARE A SAD EXCUSE FOR A GUARDIAN, THERE WAS OBVIOUSLY A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. YOU CANNOT PROTECT HER. SHE IS GOING TO DIE THE WORST DEATH YOU CAN IMAGINE. YOU CANNOT PROTECT HER._

He set his head down, clutching the sides of it and closing his eyes, grimacing.

"That's it, Jack, go back to sleep," Melpomene practically purred, running her hand over his hair.

_You cannot protect her. You cannot do this alone. You cannot protect her. She will die._

Melpomene released the boy from her grasp and watched him for a moment. When she was certain he had fallen back asleep, she pulled herself to her feet, dusting herself off.

"You've always been too easy, Jackie-Boy," she muttered as she pulled her mask out and placed it before her face. In the next instant, she was gone.

* * *

Jack stirred before opening his eyes, his head aching and mind racing. Sitting upright, he looked around madly before finding Rowan sleeping soundly in her bed and sighed in relief. Good. She was still there; she was still okay.

Rubbing the side of his head, he stood upright, taking his staff with him as he went. He leaned the staff against her bedside table and looked down at her carefully. He watched for every breath, every twitch, every indication that she was still alive.

Seeing that she was all right somehow was not easing his mind. It felt like the calm before the storm, like something terrible was going to happen and he was powerless to stop it. Something was going to go wrong.

She was okay. She was breathing. She was alive. There were no Shadow People in sight. And yet, the feeling of dread would not stop.

Her face, expressing an eerie sort of misery, flashed in his mind. Earlier, the kiss on the cheek, had it actually happened? Or had he been dreaming? It was all a fog, he couldn't remember.

If it hadn't been a dream, then why had Rowan been caressing his face in his sleep, why had she set her forehead to his then kissed his cheek? If it _had_ been a dream, then why on earth was he dreaming about her doing such a thing?

It sounded like something to ask Sandy about, but of course, the cheerful mute worked at night, when Jack was otherwise occupied.

Otherwise occupied making sure that Rowan wasn't killed. Ever since he was assigned this job he had taken to ignoring his doubts and assuring himself that things would somehow turn out okay.

But it wasn't working anymore, he couldn't get the thought of failing out of his mind. The thoughts screamed louder than ever before. He couldn't possibly protect her by himself, could he?

What else could he possibly do?

Crashing on her couch wasn't going to be an option anymore, he decided. It was too easy to miss something, potential threats or otherwise. He could avoid sleeping, but he'd been more exhausted than usual ever since this whole thing started. Between having to interact with the Muses, the Shadow People, the constant butting heads with the other Guardians over Rowan, and Rowan and whatever weird relationship they had in _general?_ His mind needed the rest. The last thing Rowan needed was to have a delirious spirit trying to make sense of an attack with a tired mind.

Kneeling down beside her bed, as though in prayer, Jack reached forward and took her wrist in his hand until he could feel her pulse. More confirmation she was alive. Folding his other arm on the surface of the comforter in front of him, he rested his head and attempted to clear his mind.

It wasn't working.

* * *

"Why would Pitch want to meet _here?_" Melpomene muttered under her breath, strolling through the woods just outside the lake near Burgess until she found a clearing where the remains of a bed _used_ to reside.

"Sentimental bastard," she sighed. Her moonbeam followed her closely, though it seemed to give off some degree of hesitation. The harsh words Melpomene had thrown in Manny's direction had obviously affected his servant.

"_Late_, sentimental bastard," she said. Surely Pitch hadn't expected her to take all night, had he? Or perhaps he had, perhaps he wasn't planning on meeting her until morning, when the sun was out. That would certainly make more sense, as far as their safety went, but she knew he'd want details on how her visit with Jack went as soon as possible.

Her appearance was once more of her own dark hair and pale face, rejecting Rowan's as soon as she had vacated the apartment. Her moonbeam twitched suddenly and Melpomene glanced down at it, brow raised. It inched in the direction of the path they had just taken and Melpomene's gaze followed.

It was quite hard to see unless one was really looking for it, but the shadows past the trees seemed to shift slightly. Melpomene sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Pitch!" she called. "Cut it out with the shadow tricks, I know it's you!"

She received no response. Frowning, she walked forward, passing her careful moonbeam in the process. The orb of light was quick to catch up with her as she squinted in an attempt to better see in the distance.

"Really, Pitch, this isn't funny. If you're trying to feed off _my_ fear or something, you know you're barking up the wrong tree," she said. Still, no response. The moonbeam floated in front of her before ramming into her chest in an attempt to push her back the way she came. She waved the orb of light away before walking forward further, nearly to the edge of the trees now.

"Pitch…?"

She stopped as the shadows rushed forward, erupting from the ground and materializing into eerie, dark forms. Silhouettes of people, with only dark accents where features were supposed to be.

Melpomene began stepping back and away, eyes wide as the Shadow People approached her, the moonbeam traveling with her protectively. Fumbling for the part of her outfit she'd tucked her mask away in, she finally pulled it out, having every intention of disappearing from the spot.

She'd go somewhere else, _anywhere_ else where it was still daylight. Sorry Pitch, but this meeting was not worth this trouble, not at all.

Taking the ribbons attached to her mask in each hand, she went to place it before her face when the Shadow People lunged forward. Her moonbeam was quick to attack and dispose of one, but another succeeded in knocking her mask from her grasp, far off near some other trees.

Melpomene swore, jumping to the side as a few more of them pounced toward her. They were moving exceptionally quickly, and while her moonbeam _was_ helping, it was having as much difficulty keeping up with them as Melpomene was having dodging their blows.

Shadows reached forward, wrapping themselves around her arms and pulling her to the ground as she attempted to escape. She landed face-first in the snow with a groan. The sensation the shadows left was strange, restraints that were pleasantly soft, but cold. She wasn't sure if they were meant to comfort or not, and suspected the resulting unease and growing paranoia was the intended result.

"You aren't strong enough to take my powers," she hissed, the moonbeam eliminating one of the shadows holding down her arm, only for it to be quickly replaced by another.

Finally, a rather tall, impressive Shadow Person approached her before seeming to melt into and take the shape of her form. Everything was now dark. As she tried to move, she found that she could not do more than shift slightly.

Her feelings of paranoia began to rise. Logically she knew they weren't powerful enough to kill her but all she could think was that she was going to die, die for _real_ this time, all because she had shown up for a meeting with Pitch.

But the Shadow People had chosen the wrong Muse.

The fear began to fade when she considered that she might not mind such a fate. She had a good run. Perhaps it was time for her to finally go. After all, the people of the world were awfully good at coming up with their own tragedies. Sure, Thalia would likely go down with her shortly after, but if the sun _really_ needed another comedy and tragedy duo, surely he could just make himself some new ones.

Melpomene was certain to make sure that the Shadow People knew that the thoughts they filled her mind with, the absolute feelings of dread for her life as she knew it, _comforted her_. They made her downright giddy; they inspired her and brought _more life_ to her form.

She could feel their hold growing weaker.

She smiled, finally yanking her arms free of their grasp. Her moonbeam finished off the shadow that was still clinging to her form, trying desperately to weaken her.

"I am tragedy!" she cried, pulling herself back to her feet. "You can't break my spirit! _It's already broken!_ I am Ophelia! I am Desdemona! I am Juliet! I am every tragic story you've ever heard or imagined!"

Still, they circled her and her moonbeam, though more carefully than before. After a moment of silent contemplation amongst themselves, they all lunged forward at once, seeming to decide that strength in numbers was the best approach. The moonbeam darted around the shadows frantically to fight them off. Melpomene struggled to pull away again until she felt something around her waist.

Hastily, she was yanked from the Shadow People's grasp and found herself being thrown through the air toward the edge of the trees. She landed less than gracefully, but out of their reach and safe for now, as it seemed most of them hadn't noticed she was gone yet. Glancing down, she found sparkling, black nightmare sand around her waist. Glancing up, she found the man that had lassoed her.

"Well if the Boogie Man thing continues _not_ to work out, you have a promising career in rodeo," she said. Pitch narrowed his eyes at her remark but offered his hand to help her back to her feet regardless.

In the distance, the poor moonbeam was working overtime and had managed to decrease the number of Shadow People by at least a third.

"We have to leave," Pitch said, stepping back as the Shadow People began to approach them once more. They were moving slower than they had before, at least.

"Yeah, great plan, if only _I_ had thought of that," Melpomene said sarcastically, stepping back with him.

"Just use your mask, _get us out of here_," he hissed, eyeing the approaching creatures nervously. Melpomene didn't like when Pitch showed fear. It was just too odd.

"Yeah, well, my mask is over there," she said, pointing to the other side of the clearing. "So now would be a good time to use the same trick you used on me."

"I'm running out of power to _do this,_ Melpomene," Pitch said, waving about his hands to create more nightmare sand.

"That's not my _problem,_ Pitch," she said. "Just _do it or they'll kill you."_

"Oh delightful, no pressure then," he said, sending forward a burst of sand toward her mask before she grabbed him by his arm and sprinted out of the way of another attack.

As the Shadow People began approaching them again, the nightmare sand returned, Melpomene's mask in tow. She quickly caught it and brushed away the remaining sand as her moonbeam darted over to her and hid itself in the folds of her clothes. As she set the mask to her face, Pitch pulled his arms around her waist and the Shadow People charged at them once more.

They were suddenly in Pitch's lair and safe. For now, anyway.

Pitch released his grasp on Melpomene and the moonbeam went back to its place hovering closely, but not _too_ closely to the Muse. She removed her mask.

Melpomene approached Pitch's elaborate throne and collapsed onto it, her mask in her lap as she held her head in her hands.

"Well, they didn't _kill_ you," Pitch said, hovering over her and examining her critically.

"Just a little dizzy now that the adrenaline is wearing off," she sighed. "Wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been _late_."

"You're welcome, by the way, for pulling you out of there," Pitch said, crossing his arms before him and watching her in irritation.

"I wouldn't need to be pulled out of there if you had _been on time_," Melpomene sneered, looking up at him.

"You should have spent more time corrupting Jack's mind, I wasn't expecting you until morning," Pitch said.

_"I_ don't have to hide under beds to make sure my work's been done," she said, one of her hands falling by her side. "Besides, I've worked on Jack before, it was a quick job. Can you not feel his fear?"

Pitch nodded shortly. "I can. I only hope it lasts."

* * *

It was now Friday evening and Jack found himself leaning against Rowan's wall and watching curiously as she began applying makeup to her face, her hair already styled with a braid acting as a sort of headband. She wore a bath robe, having not changed into what she planned on wearing for the night yet.

She seemed in better spirits, and Jack assumed that it was due to the fact that as of now, she was finished with her semester. There would be no more projects or tests until January.

For the next few weeks she just had to worry about the dark creatures trying to kill her was all. No big deal, right?

Not so much. Jack's mind hadn't been at ease since about two nights ago when he'd fallen asleep kneeling at Rowan's bedside, with her wrist firmly in his grasp. He'd only woken up when she had, shifting her arm in the process and waking him with the movement. He had immediately grabbed for his staff in order to fight off any adversaries.

There were none, only Rowan's alarm tone, which she had changed in the hope of startling Jack less. Jack had awkwardly waved off Rowan's questions, insisting that he had only been sleeping where he had as a change of pace (which she didn't seem to buy). The previous night had been much the same, feeling for her pulse after she had fallen asleep.

He was trying not to give away his worry. Rowan worried enough for the both of them, and revealing that he feared he might not be able to protect her was not going to go over well.

But he was the Guardian of Fun, and if anyone could keep smiling despite discouraging thoughts, it had to be him.

"These stupid Shadow People," she groaned, applying concealer to her chin. "They're giving me stress zits."

Jack tilted his head as though to see her face at a better angle from where he was standing. "Huh, they are. Wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't said anything."

"Yeah well you can't seem to tell much difference between me with makeup and me without makeup, so," Rowan replied. "Which either says you're not observant or I suck at makeup."

"Probably the first one, I would hope that someone in art school would have half a clue with cosmetics," Jack said.

"Quick!" Rowan said, closing her eyes. "What color are my eyes, Oh, Unobservant Guardian?"

"Brown," Jack said immediately. "I'm not _that_ oblivious."

"Very good," Rowan said, opening her eyes. She reached for one of the many makeup brushes and began applying foundation to her face. "Asked one of my ex-boyfriends that, he was under the impression that my eyes were green."

"Is that why he's an ex-boyfriend?" Jack asked. He wasn't sure how someone could get that question wrong. Rowan's eyes were large and round, not easily overlooked.

"Not that specifically, but it didn't help him," she said. After a moment she fumbled with some powder and blush.

"Was this the same one that you wrote the really long breakup letter to?" Jack asked.

"Danny? No. He actually mentioned to me once that because brown eyes are a dominant trait, if we had children they'd be more likely to have my eye color than his."

"He was talking to you about your _children?"_ Jack said, making a face.

"My reaction exactly," she said, searching her makeup bag until she pulled out a tube of eye shadow primer and began applying it to her eyelids. "I think he assumed that because I'm trying to get into children's books that I want to pop kids out right away. No, _thank you._ Actually, it's funny, most people with an emphasis on children's books don't even like kids."

"You seem to like them okay."

"Yeah, but I don't _want_ one," she grimaced. "At least not for like… a _while."_

"Understandable," Jack said, watching as she put the tube of primer away. "So what does that stuff even _do?_ You're smearing it all over your eyes but it doesn't have any color."

"It makes the color of the eye shadow look better," Rowan said, fiddling with an eye shadow palette and some brushes. "It also makes it last longer and it doesn't turn into a creased and smeary mess."

"Oh," Jack said, still unsure about the whole "makeup" thing. She looked fine either way, but it seemed that the pigments and brushes brought her some kind of joy, so who was he to judge?

It wasn't very long before she was carefully applying her eyeliner and curling her eyelashes in preparation for mascara. She then began to put all the various cosmetics back in her bag, leaving out only a tube of deep red lipstick.

"Red lipstick sort of night, I think," she said, more to herself than to Jack, standing up. "But I'll put it on before we leave."

Her mention of lipstick only made him think of her lips as she pulled open her closet and began sorting through the clothes she had hung here. He still wasn't sure if the kiss on the cheek had been a dream or not. He wanted to ask her, but each time he tried, he could feel himself beginning to blush and changed the subject.

She disappeared into the bathroom with a dress and some black stockings. He hadn't taken note of which dress she'd taken, still considering the event that may or may not have happened. He knew he should just ask, the worst she could say was that it was a dream. Then he'd know and he could move on.

But _why_ was that the worst she could say? Why was he so afraid that it would be the case and that she hadn't actually shown a strange amount of affection for him in the middle of the night?

But if she _had,_ then why hadn't _she_ mentioned anything? He had forgotten how hard it was to figure out girls.

"Jack?" Rowan said, stepping out of the bathroom. She wore a strapless dress, which featured a tight, pencil skirt. The top of the dress was off-white, while the skirt was a dark purple. It was nicer than what she usually wore, but not overly formal. She held a hand against the fabric near the top of the dress, as though fearful it would slip.

"You look nice," Jack said after taking a moment to examine the dress.

"Thank you," she said, her cheeks turning slightly pink. "Think you can do me a favor and zip me? I got the zipper about halfway but…"

"Er, sure," he said, walking over to where she stood. She turned around to reveal the only partially zipped zipper. Not to mention, the clasped back of the strapless bra she wore and all the faint freckles on her back.

Jack was suddenly very glad to be facing Rowan's back, because just how fixated he was with her freckles _had_ to be sort of creepy.

Setting one hand to her side, he grabbed for the zipper with the other and tugged upwards, finding that it wouldn't budge. It was one of those stupid, thin zippers that so many dresses had.

"Try unzipping it some, it might have snagged on a thread or something," Rowan said.

Unzip it some? What a grand idea, Rowan, that's not awkward at all.

"All right," Jack said hesitantly, pulling down the zipper a few inches, which of course served only to reveal more of her bare back. It crossed his mind to simply keep unzipping but he quickly shook that thought away. He was _three hundred_ and eighteen years old, thank you, he was _not_ a hopeless young person whose hormones dictated his decisions.

At least, that was what he had to continue telling himself as he pulled the zipper upright. This time it did not snag, and reached the top with ease. With slightly shaking hands, he fixed the hook at the top of the zipper.

"Thank you for that," Rowan said, turning to face him once more. Jack sincerely hoped his face wasn't giving away any bashfulness. It was an adjective not often associated with him, after all.

"You're welcome," he said as casually as he could manage. Returning to her closet, Rowan pulled out her boots before taking a seat to pull them on and lace them.

"I'm not gonna pretend to know anything about fashion but, um… I wasn't expecting the boots," Jack said, returning to the table where he'd propped his staff and taking it in his hand again.

"Yes, well, it's kind of _snowing_," she said, casting him an accusatory glance. "So I'm going to wear these until I get to my car, at least, I have some heels I'm going to change into."

Jack simply smiled innocently. Honestly, half the fun of having control over ice and snow was the amount of people he got to irritate with all the various inconveniences.

As Rowan finished lacing her boots, she grabbed for her phone on the table and slid her thumb across the screen a few times. After reading something on the screen, she grabbed for her peacoat and pulled it on.

"Well, it looks like Adam got his car running so I don't have to pick him and Shirley up," Rowan said, approaching the mirror on her wall and applying the lipstick she'd set aside earlier. She ran her finger along the bottom edge of her mouth for a moment before pocketing the tube of lipstick, finding her application satisfactory.

"So, I get shotgun then," Jack said.

"Unless you want to ride on the roof again," she replied, pulling a pair of purple heels that matched her dress from the closet.

"Nah, I like the whole 'seatbelt' aspect," he smiled.

"Is that another jab at my driving?"

"Absolutely."

Rowan rolled her eyes, grabbing for her gloves and her car keys, her heels still dangling in her other hand. "Come on then, Frost, I have pedestrians and other drivers to endanger."


	21. Wish Me Luck

A/N: Two characters, Nicolette and Quinn, appear in this chapter! Nicolette belongs to me and Quinn belongs to my friend, Kit. We've been working on them for _years_ now (it's kind of ridiculous) and I thought it would be fun if they made a cameo. Using Quinn with permission.

Anyway, glad you guys liked last chapter's zipper scene! It was a lot of fun to write, haha. Welcome to all the new reviewers that spoke up last chapter, hope to hear more from you guys! As far as Melpomene's talk with the moon goes, **soaringphoenix86**, she definitely doesn't care much about biting the hand that feeds her. And **sarafine-ecleips**, you guys _will_ get to learn about Jack and Melpomene's past... but I'm gonna make you guys wait a bit longer, I think. Bwahaha.

Oh yeah, and I shamelessly make fun of fine artists in this chapter. So this is my disclaimer to state that I apologize if I offend anyone and I am aware that there are _sane_ fine artists out there. It's just the crazy ones that are the loudest, is all. Sincerely, an Illustration Major

* * *

_Jack walked alongside Rowan, wincing as several other people in the gallery walked straight through him. It was never a nice thing to experience. Especially after spending so much time around believers recently._

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One:**** Wish Me Luck**

* * *

Urania twisted through the air, her moonbeam following her with glee, like synchronized swimmers performing a flawless routine. Tooth flew nearby, with a smile that mirrored Urania's as the wind whipped through her feathers, a few mini fairies in tow. Calliope, transformed into her bird form, glided alongside them. The sun hadn't been down for long, the night was clear and the moon was bright.

"It's so nice to have you two along the rounds with me," Tooth said.

"It's been too long since we've visited you without some kind of dire circumstance being the reason, Toothiana," Calliope said. Urania snickered. "What's so funny, Urania?"

"I'm sorry, but every time you talk when you're in your bird form, it's just _funny,"_ Urania said. "Say 'nevermore'."

"I'm not a raven," Calliope said dryly. She was something like a common grackle, but not quite. In fact, Urania had never found a bird exactly like Calliope when she was in this state.

"I could say it, but I'm not a raven either," Tooth chuckled.

"I'll just bother Melpomene to recite some Poe later," Urania smiled.

"Oh, one second, ladies!" Tooth said, darting into the nearby house. Urania landed lightly on the roof with Calliope landing on one shoulder and their moonbeams on the other. They weren't waiting long before Tooth appeared, absolutely giddy, with a molar in hand.

"It's so nice watching you work," Calliope said. "All the Guardians, actually, you can just see the joy it brings you."

"Even Jack?" Tooth said, raising a brow.

"No comment," Calliope smiled. If birds could smile. Urania rolled her eyes.

"Jack's not so bad, Calliope, if it weren't for him, we'd be having to put Rowan in hiding and figure out how to cover up her sudden disappearance," Urania said. "Has anyone heard how those two are doing, by the way?"

"I assumed that no news was good news," Calliope said as they began flying off again. "Provided that Jack's actually been _guarding_ her."

"What else could he be doing?" Tooth said hesitantly.

"Two teenagers in closed quarters in the middle of the night, do I need to call up Erato to explain?" Calliope said.

"I thought he had a thing with Tooth," Urania said, confused. Tooth stopped in midair, her cheeks turning red as she hushed the Muse.

"Tooth, we all know you like him," Calliope said as she and Urania circled back to where Tooth was hovering.

"Even _Thalia_ knows, and she has the attention span of a small dog," Urania added.

"I just… we don't have a _thing_," Tooth said, seeming disappointed as they began flying off into the distance again. Tooth was ahead of the others only slightly, sending her mini fairies off to collect teeth elsewhere. "I just didn't think that he and Rowan did either."

Calliope and Urania exchanged looks.

"Honestly, though, Tooth, you can do so much better, have you _seen_ Cupid lately?" Calliope said suggestively.

"Cupid is like a nephew to me!" Tooth said, flying backwards so that she could face the Muses. "I remember when he was a _baby."_

"We all do, he only ages, what, one year every century?" Urania said. "I don't think he'd even started _puberty_ yet when the Renaissance hit."

"He's actually _older_ than you, Tooth," Calliope added.

"That's not the point," Tooth said. "I'm not exactly looking for you guys to play matchmaker, at least not _now_. There's too much going on! Besides, of all the immortal beings out there, I'm sure Cupid is the _last_ one who needs a matchmaker."

"Just saying, you can do better than Jack Frost. Actually, even _Rowan_ could probably do better than him," Calliope said. Urania cast her a glance as though to say she wasn't helping. "But I'm still undecided on the girl."

"She's just… young," Urania said. "And scared. We all were when we were first exposed to this world."

"She's lacking a certain grace," Calliope said. "It's unsurprising that Jack would find it attractive."

_"If_ he finds her attractive at all," Urania hastily added as a frown crossed Tooth's face.

"Everyone seems to think that's the case, Bunny certainly does. And the way he acted around her at the meeting, the way he touched her shoulder and the way he smiled at her when I first met her… I mean, he's never smiled at _me_ that way," Tooth sighed.

"You can't base your attraction to people on their teeth," Calliope said. "Not that his aren't nice – don't tell him I said anything good about him – but Tooth he's-"

"Not _your_ type, I get it, Calliope," Tooth said. "He's just got this certain charm about him. He's sly, he's smart, and yes, at times immature, but he knows how to make someone laugh. It's not _just_ his teeth."

"Sanderson speaks highly of him," Calliope admitted. "I just…"

"Are you holding a grudge for Melpomene?" Tooth asked.

"Not exactly," Calliope said. "But I worry about what it was that attracted her to him in the first place. She's running around with Pitch Black now and-"

"Jack isn't anything like Pitch," Tooth said immediately.

"That's the thing, Tooth, he _is."_

"They're lost, lonely souls," Urania said. "But the difference is how they try to find their way. Jack has the Guardians now, but he's obviously still adjusting."

"I trust Jack, we all do," Tooth said, turning so that she could fly facing forward yet again.

"So, I guess he told you guys all about how Pitch asked him to join his side when he was trying to get rid of all of you," Calliope said. Tooth glanced back at the Muse briefly, silent and brow furrowed.

"I'll take that as a no," Urania said.

"How do you know that?" Tooth asked.

"Pitch told Melpomene," Calliope said.

Tooth shook her head. "What does it matter? He didn't join Pitch, he came through for us, he'll do it again. He's a Guardian, just as much as I am."

"I just don't want to see you hurt, Tooth. Really, you're one of our dearest friends," Calliope said.

"You don't seem very concerned about Rowan getting hurt. She's supposed to be part of your sisterhood, isn't she?" Tooth asked.

"She has a point, Calliope," Urania said to the bird.

"She's not a Muse, she just has the potential to be. It hasn't happened in centuries, I'm not holding my breath," Calliope said.

"You used to be much kinder to the Mortal Muses in the past," Urania said. "You were rather cold to her during the meeting."

"It's not worth the heartache, not for any of us," Calliope said. "Bunny is not wrong, trying to keep them apart. Someone is going to end up hurt, there's no way it can end well for anyone involved."

* * *

Jack's brow was furrowed, his hand to his chin in contemplation as he stared at a sculpture in the middle of the gallery space. It was labeled as "Untitled," and _sort of_ looked like some kind of figure but _mostly_ didn't look like anything. Jack wasn't exactly sure what it was even made of, it seemed to be various pieces of junk hot-glued together. Was that a condom…?

Rowan, who now matched Jack's height thanks to the heels she had changed into, seemed to be trying not to laugh at him as he continued gazing, exceptionally confused, at the sculpture. Her coat was draped over her arm and she held a glass of water she'd retrieved from one of the various refreshment tables.

"Okay, I give up, what is it?" Jack asked.

"Fine art," Rowan giggled, taking a sip of her water.

"I don't get it," he said.

"Well, _obviously_ that just means that you're an unenlightened conformist," she whispered, rolling her eyes.

"Ah, yes, obviously," he said, tilting his head as though it might make the sculpture make more sense. "Is all fine art like this?"

"A lot of it," she muttered, hoping to be discreet.

"Can we go see art that makes sense?"

Rowan smiled and turned away from the sculpture, leading the way to another room of the gallery. Here, they found some submissions from the illustration department. Jack stopped to look at a watercolor portrait of the Lady of Shallot.

"Here we go, dead girl in a boat, perfectly logical," he said.

"Rowan!" Shirley said, approaching the girl and throwing an arm around her shoulder, a glass of wine in her hand. "There you are! Your piece has had quite a few admirers."

"How'd you get the wine, they check IDs, don't they?" Rowan said, eyeing the glass in her friend's hand.

"Adam got it for me, shh," Shirley said, removing her arm from Rowan's shoulders and setting a finger to her lips. "Do you want me to ask him to grab one for you?"

"No, that's okay," Rowan said.

"Aw, come on, I'll be your designated driver," Jack chuckled. "Are you a happy drunk or a sad drunk?" Rowan simply cast him a slightly annoyed glance, which he returned with a smirk. It was entirely too entertaining to harass Rowan in front of her friends.

"I think I'm gonna go lurk by my piece and see what people are saying," Rowan said.

"All right, I'm gonna try and find Adam. Did you see that weird piece with the fine art stuff?" Shirley said.

"You have _got_ to be more specific," Rowan smirked.

"The weird sculpture thing that almost looks like a person," she said.

"Well, I mean, um, _obviously_, it's commentary on, you know, modern society and the, uh…" Rowan said, waving her hand a bit as though trying to figure out something else to say.

"The conformist nature of people, our, uh, tyrannical government and of course, how deeply misunderstood the artist is," Shirley said, nodding. Jack watched as the two girls both attempted to keep straight faces before finally beginning to laugh.

"Oh, fine artists," Shirley said, setting her glass to her lips. "I'll see you in a bit, Rowan."

"See you," Rowan said as the pair parted ways. Rowan and Jack had barely walked a few paces before someone else called her name.

"Rowan!" said the approaching girl. Her long, silky hair was black, save for her bangs, which were dyed a bright red and framed her pale face. She pulled along a boy by his hand, his dark shaggy hair in his eyes.

"Oh, hi Nicolette, Quinn, I'm glad you guys could make it," Rowan said.

"Of course! And _you _should try to make it to the coffee shop off Fifth Street at around nine if you can! We're having our acoustic show. I just, I had the _best_ idea for a song after talking to you a few weeks ago and we're finally gonna perform it and-" Nicolette started. Jack's head spun, he had never heard a girl speak so quickly before in his many centuries of living. Glancing at Rowan, he found her looking slightly puzzled as well.

"Basically, we're having a show later, we have some new stuff, we'd love for you to stop by. It's free admission," Quinn said.

"Sounds good, I'll see what time I get out of here," Rowan said. "How'd your finals go over at the university?"

"Oh, you know, we haven't slept for a week, our bodies are probably about eighty percent coffee, but we'll be fine," Nicolette said. "We saw your piece, by the way! The guy is super cute, I like your interpretation, it's very modern but like, without losing the sort of fantasy element, you know? I just love your stories, Rowan, I can't wait to see what you do with this character."

"It's really nice," Quinn said, nodding along, a small smile pulling at his lips as his girlfriend rambled.

"Thank you! It's really nice you guys came down to see it," Rowan said.

"Yes, well, about that," Quinn said hesitantly.

"Danny might have overheard us mentioning we'd be coming," Nicolette said sheepishly. Rowan groaned and Jack furrowed his brow. "I don't know if he actually will be showing up or not, but…"

"But if he does, don't be too surprised," Quinn smiled nervously.

"Thanks for the heads up," Rowan said.

"He shouldn't be at the coffee shop later considering that our music scares him," Nicolette assured her.

"Our rhythm guitarist scares him too," Quinn added.

"Teddy has that effect on people," Rowan nodded before draining the rest of the water in her glass.

"We're gonna go see some more of the pieces though, if you want to come with us or I guess we'll see you at the awards ceremony? That starts in like twenty minutes, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, they should be opening the doors for the auditorium soon," Rowan said. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

The couple walked off and Rowan wandered off toward the entrance of the gallery. A very small hallway lead to a door that read "Employees Only," and this is where she chose to tuck herself away, lips pursed and clearly irritated. Jack followed her, leaning against the opposite wall.

"He might not show up," he told her.

"I just want one goddamn night I don't have to worry about anything and now my ex-boyfriend might finally decide to take an interest in art? This is so _typical,_" she groaned.

"Where'd you find those musicians anyway?" Jack asked, hoping that maybe if he changed the subject, it would ease her mind.

"Nicolette and Quinn? Oh, Danny somehow conned them into a double date with us last year, they go to college with him, studying business. Or, I guess Quinn is double majoring in business and something complicated and mathematical," she said. "They were so happy when I dumped him, said they didn't have to pretend to be nice anymore."

"You know," Jack said, reaching forward and flicking some of her bangs from her face. _"Right now_, he's not here. And there's no reason to hide over here and let the _possibility_ of him showing up ruin your evening. Besides, you still need to show me your piece."

"Yeah, you're right," she sighed after mulling over his words for a moment, straightening her stance. "Come on, it's through this way."

Rowan walked toward a room in the gallery they had yet to visit, careful to walk around some professors that appeared to have already had quite a bit of wine, and some students who were enjoying this thoroughly. Jack walked alongside Rowan, wincing as several other people in the gallery walked straight through him. It was never a nice thing to experience. Especially after spending so much time around believers recently.

"That's super weird," Rowan muttered to him as someone else passed through him.

"Tell me about it," Jack said as they approached the far wall of the gallery.

"Well, here's my piece," she said to him, after being sure that no one else was in immediate earshot. "Hope you like it."

Jack took a few steps past her to properly see the piece mounted on the wall, a grin coming to his face as soon as he got a good look. The card beneath the piece read: "Jack Frost – Character Design," with "Rowan Sawyer – Illustration" in smaller font beneath it.

There were five full-body drawings of Jack in the piece. Each drawing was rotated slightly from the one before it in order to allow the viewer to get the best idea of what he looked like. Jack was posed with one hand in his pocket and the other grasping his staff, a mischievous smirk on his face.

Beside the full-body drawings was a portrait featuring the same smirk. She had gotten each detail correct, down to the stitching on his hoodie and the angles of the grooves in his staff. He'd gotten so many drawings from kids the past few months, but none as intricate and lovely as this.

Turning away from the piece, he found Rowan watching him expectantly, biting her lip.

"This is great! You've got me down perfect," he said with a grin, looking back at the piece. "What did you do this with, the computer? You even got the shade of blue right, and my staff, and-! You're really observant, aren't you? It's a little creepy, but this is _really_ good, Rowan."

"I'm really glad you like it," she whispered, a grin on her face.

"I want to see the other ones you've done of me," Jack said.

Before Rowan could respond, it seemed that something caught her eye somewhere behind Jack, her face falling. Jack turned to see a boy that looked quite out of place. He appeared to be looking for someone and was paying no mind to the artwork whatsoever.

He was a good-looking boy, with hazel eyes and sandy hair. He was tall, thin, and scruffy, as though he only shaved when he managed to remember. While Jack had never met him, he had to assume that this was the infamous Danny.

"Come on," Rowan said, slipping out the nearby back door as she pulled her coat on. Jack followed close behind, hoping the lights outside the building and in the parking lot would be adequate in keeping any lurking Shadow People away, at least for a while. They had been very lucky the past few nights.

"I can't believe he actually showed up," she grumbled, leaning against the nearby railing.

"Yeah but it doesn't look like he saw you, so," Jack said with a slight shrug. "You're really against talking to this guy, aren't you?"

"I had to break up with him with a letter because he would have given me a guilt trip otherwise," Rowan said, rolling her eyes and pulling her coat tighter around her form.

"Sounds charming," Jack said.

"He shouldn't stick around too long, I'll go back inside in a minute," Rowan said. She paused, looking back to Jack before saying, "So you really like the piece? I mean, I know it's not really much of a character _design_ seeing as I just drew you as you are… but I had started sketching you after we met and that sheet is what I wound up with."

"Yeah! I mean, I'm obviously bias but it's my favorite one in there," Jack said. "And like I said, I want to see the other ones."

"I'll show them to you," she said, nodding. "I haven't had much chance to sit down and do any sketches the past couple days but maybe when I get home I'll do some more."

"The past couple days have been, well," Jack said, struggling to find the proper adjective.

"Anxiety-inducing," Rowan said.

"Yeah, that works," Jack smiled. He watched as she pulled her lipstick-clad lips into a smile as well, and once more found himself thinking of that kiss on the cheek. Maybe it was a friendly thing. Maybe it didn't mean anything at all. Maybe it hadn't _happened_ at all.

"Rowan! There you are," Shirley said, walking outside, shivering the whole way. "They're about to start the awards ceremony. Did you see Danny in there?"

"Ugh, yes, is he still there?" Rowan asked.

"No, no, I told him you weren't here. Then of course, he's like 'but Shirley, I saw her car in the parking lot.' So I was like 'Well, Adam and I had to borrow it because his is a death trap, so go away,' and there were a few more words exchanged, I wasn't very nice, and then he finally left," Shirley explained. Rowan laughed slightly.

"Thanks for that," she said.

"Anytime," Shirley said with a shrug.

"Do you happen to know what he wanted?" Rowan asked.

"Oh! He wants you to start proof reading his assignments again, I told him to get a goddamn tutor," Shirley rolled her eyes.

"Seriously?" Rowan said, shaking her head slightly.

"Yeah. But come on, Adam's saving us seats."

"I'll be there in a second," Rowan said. Shirley nodded and slipped back inside, rubbing her arms for warmth as she went. Rowan turned back to Jack and said, "Things like that are why I'm friends with her."

"Can't argue with the results," Jack said. He watched her for a moment, once more debating over whether or not he should ask her about the other night. Whether or not he should do _anything_ about it.

"Hey, um, good luck as far as the awards go," he said at last. Rowan opened her mouth to respond and he was sure she was about to insist again that she wouldn't win anything. The action he took to prevent her from uttering such self-doubt was hasty and not thought out in the least. Leaning forward, he swiftly kissed her cheek, leaving her with a surprised expression and a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Um, thanks," she finally said, a silly smile coming to her face as she pushed the door open and lead the way inside.

The auditorium wasn't the largest, but it served its purpose for those who had actually bothered to show up to the opening ceremony instead of immediately rushing home to their families or beginning hibernation, both of which were understandable reactions to the semester ending.

Rowan sat beside Shirley, at the end of a row of seats. A few seats down, Nicolette was babbling to Adam about something or another. Jack settled himself down on the floor in the aisle beside Rowan, wincing as a few people looking for seats walked through him. Rowan reached over and ruffled his hair briefly, as though to assure him that _she_ still knew he was there. He swatted at her hand, grinning.

The ceremony started with words from the school president and dean of students. Each department had awards to give, presented by the department chair. Each name was met with enthusiastic cheers from their respective department and polite applause from everyone else.

"… And first prize for Fine Art goes to Henry Ipster for 'Untitled,'" announced the plump and cheerful chair of fine art. The projection screen displayed the strange sculpture they had been looking at earlier.

_"Really?"_ Jack and Rowan said at once, though Rowan was still clapping politely.

"Well, _someone_ understood it," Shirley said.

"Either that or they're pretending they did," Jack said. Rowan couldn't help but laugh.

When the chair of illustration made his way onstage, a stout man with glasses and perhaps the tackiest patterned pants in existence, he seemed to receive the greatest amount of applause thus far.

"We'll start with the Illustration Department's Honorable Mention," the bespectacled man said, "Rowan Sawyer, for 'Jack Frost - Character Design.'"

Rowan's name appeared on the projection screen, along with her drawing. She remained seated, staring at the screen in confusion as those around her began to cheer for her.

"… that's me," she mumbled in disbelief.

"That's you, go up there!" Shirley laughed, shoving Rowan out of her seat. Jack pulled himself to his feet to avoid tripping her, putting his hands together for her as well. She cast a nervous smile in his direction before climbing the stairs to the stage. She shook hands with the department chair before being handed a certificate and returning to her seat.

"Honorable mention!" cheered Adam as Rowan rejoined them.

"You should've placed but this is still great," Shirley said, pulling Rowan into a hug.

"And here you were saying you wouldn't win anything," Jack smirked. "Though _technically_ I'd say half of that certificate is mine."

"Fair enough," Rowan mouthed to him as soon as Shirley released her from her grasp.

Third, second and first place were each awarded, met with cheers and standing ovations from the row Jack was seated beside, though Rowan seemed to be unable to resist examining her certificate between cheers.

"Yeah, like we didn't know that Jill was going to walk away with first place," Shirley said to Rowan as they settled back in their seats at last.

"Thank god she's graduating, give the rest of us a chance," Rowan replied.

"I bet you'll place next time since you were able to snag the mention this time," Adam said.

"Wait until Jack finds out that he inspired you to become an award winner," Shirley teased.

"Oh, I don't think he needs the ego boost," Rowan said, casting a glance toward Jack, who simply smirked in response.

It wasn't long until the ceremony came to an end and the audience was encouraged to continue browsing the art. Everyone began to exit the auditorium, some lingering outside to speak with professors or those who had won. Rowan pulled her coat back on as their group shuffled outside, Quinn and Nicolette quickly bidding farewells as they had to go prepare for their show.

"Are you gonna go see them perform?" Shirley asked Rowan after the pair had left.

"I'm thinking about it," Rowan said.

"Well, I think we're going mostly for the coffee," Adam said. "Gotta put something in my body that's not wine."

"How many glasses did you have?" Rowan asked.

"I think I'm still good to drive," he said.

"You _think?"_

"I'm pretty confident," Adam said, spreading his arms and beginning to walk heel-to-toe in a straight line as though his sobriety was being tested right that moment.

"I don't know, you're an unusually graceful drunk," Rowan said skeptically.

"Eh, by the time his car warms up we'll be plenty sober," Shirley said with a shrug.

"Truth, we'd better go start it," Adam said, sliding his arm around Shirley's shoulders as his mock-sobriety-test ended with him beside her. "Anyway we were going to head to the coffee shop before the show starts so we could eat, did you want to come, Rowan?"

"I'm not really hungry, I think I'll just catch up with you guys later," she said.

"All right, see you around!" Shirley said as the pair started off toward the parking lot.

"You could've gone with them, I don't mind lurking around," Jack said. Rowan shook her head.

"I love them, but I can only handle hanging around the two of them together so much, you know? They're so… couple-y sometimes," she said, making a face. "Do you want to go to the show later?"

"I got nothing else to do," Jack said with a shrug as they began walking toward another parking lot where Rowan had parked her jeep. "What kind of music is it?"

"It's sort of horror-punk, I'm curious about how they're going to do it acoustically. But Nicolette's got such a pretty voice, she could probably pull off singing the phonebook."

"Judging by the way she talked, she seems to have decent lungs, anyway."

"Ha! She does. Anyway, thanks again for coming with me, Jack, I know art shows aren't everyone's definition of fun," Rowan said.

"I had a great time," he assured her as she unlocked her car. He slid into the passenger seat after quickly glancing around to be sure that no one would question her passenger-side door suddenly opening and closing on its own.

Rowan settled herself in the driver's seat, starting her car so that it could warm up. "Still, I appreciate it. This night has been downright _normal_."


	22. Dancing With Disaster

A/N: Before any of you go running to the TOS police, _I_ wrote the lyrics in this chapter. Granted, I wrote them a few years ago, but still, _mine_. Hope you enjoy them.

If you check out the links for my deviantART and RotG tumblr on my profile, you can see the new character sheet I just finished for Melpomene! I'm working on my Muses for one of my classes at school so I'm going to be finishing the rest of them in the coming weeks, keep an eye out!

I also have a treat in this chapter for any of you Jack fangirls (which I'm assuming is most of you to some extent, let's be real).

**sayingirl**, well, Jack and Mel's story is still a ways away, so you're good for now, haha. **soaringphoenix86**, glad you enjoyed Quinn and Nicolette! Not sure how many more appearances they'll make, but who knows, they might fit somewhere. "LOL fine art," also made me smile. **seldomselcouth**, sounds like a horror movie. "Don't go upstairs, that's where the killer is!" Also, I plan on making you all bawling messes in chapter twenty-four (cue the evil cackling). **Tanairy Cornelio**, thanks for your review! Glad you enjoy the pairing. **musichick**, haha, yes, that was a hipster joke. Couldn't help myself. And yes, I think the Muses can definitely become inspired (though probably can't magically prompt inspiration in themselves), they're a creative bunch. Their emotional state probably has a lot to do with it as well.

* * *

___Doctor, Doctor, pick up the damn phone._ I'm dancing with disaster and he says hello.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Dancing With Disaster**

* * *

Rowan had fiddled with her car's CD player as she and Jack waited for the vehicle to warm up, playing a homemade demo disc that had been given to her by her musician friends a few weeks earlier. It had been marked up with a permanent marker and included a doodle of a cartoon vampire done by one of the guitarists.

"She does have a nice voice, and the music's good, but _man,_ these lyrics are depressing, have they been having tea with Melpomene or something?" Jack said as he listened.

_Tight straightjacket, distorting my silhouette; these buckles have lost their charm, this feeling's hard to forget. _

"They're incredibly unlucky people, you wouldn't believe half their stories," Rowan smiled softly.

_Forget that you're in love. Forget that I'm in doubt. Break out the medication and please just knock me out._

"Ah, but have they ever had Shadow People trying to kill them?" Jack asked.

"Doubt it," Rowan said.

"Then I think you probably win," he said.

_Doctor, Doctor, please pick up the phone. I'm losing myself and I'm sure it shows. Doctor, Doctor, please pick up the phone. I'm losing myself, and I'm sure it shows._

"Oh good, first the honorable mention and now 'most unfortunate, unbelievable life event.' I'm winning all over the place tonight," she laughed, folding her arms before her and resting them against her steering wheel. Glancing back in his direction, her mind wandered back to just before the awards ceremony, when he'd kissed her on the cheek.

It had to have been a platonic thing, right? A good-luck sort of thing. But she had never found Jack to be quite so casual with things like that before. This was when she remembered that it actually hadn't been very long that they'd known each other. Why did it feel like it had been years?

_Lobotomy. Tell me just what's wrong with me. The ice picks kiss my lashes and then tell me what to be._

"The honorable mention is half mine, don't forget," Jack smirked, fiddling with the levers on the side of his seat, reclining it for a moment before setting it back upright.

"All right, all right, one-and-a-half wins for me, then," Rowan said.

_Tell me that we're in love. Tell me I shouldn't doubt. Break out the medication and please just knock me out._

"Is that light flickering?" Jack said, suddenly distracted. He was glancing out the windshield and pointing toward one of the lights situated in the parking lot. Rowan looked over, finding that the light had, indeed, begun to violently flicker.

"Yeah, that's weird," Rowan said.

"Turn your headlights on," he said.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

_Doctor, Doctor, please pick up the phone. I'm losing myself and I'm sure it shows. Doctor, Doctor, please pick up the phone. I'm losing myself, and I'm sure it shows._

"I don't like when you get all ominous." Rowan reached for the dial on her dashboard, turning it until her headlights flashed on, pointing directly at the light in question. Dark figures quickly darted away and the light stopped flickering, though shined dimmer than before.

"Were those Shadow People?" Rowan asked, panic clear in her voice. She could feel her pulse beginning to quicken.

"Yes. Drive," was Jack's quick response. "Now. Get us out of this parking lot, keep your lights on."

"Oh, good idea. I was just planning on driving around blindly in the dark," she replied sarcastically, putting her car in reverse with shaking hands before pulling out of her parking spot, a guitar solo pulsing through her stereo speakers as she sped out of the lot.

"Go somewhere well-lit if you can," Jack said, eyes fixed on the back window.

"Jack, it's the middle of the night," Rowan replied, turning down a neighborhood that thankfully had quite a bit of streetlights. "This is as light as it's gonna get unless someone sets something on fire."

Jack reached forward and pressed down on her car's never-used cigarette lighter, the small indicator light beside it illuminating.

"I was being facetious," Rowan said, careful to keep her attention on the road. Her heart was pounding in her ears. She had been fearful of running into Shadow People ever since the meeting a few nights ago, but didn't think it would be tonight. Her knuckles were white, gripping the steering wheel for dear life in order to keep her hands from shaking.

"It's a back-up plan," Jack said, keeping his gaze behind them.

"Can you come up with a back-up plan that won't get me arrested for arson? Shit!" Rowan's tires screeched as her foot collided with the break pedal, something moving straight ahead and the streetlights flickering.

_Doctor, Doctor, please pick up the phone. I have nowhere else to turn and I know you know._

At the sudden stop, Jack crashed into her dashboard with a groan. Rowan quickly shifted into reverse and sped backward, turning to look out the back window now.

"I thought you were all about seat belts," she commented, backing over the sidewalk and part of someone's lawn before shifting back into drive and speeding off down another street.

_Doctor, Doctor, pick up the damn phone. I'm dancing with disaster and he says hello._

"How the hell did you pass your driving test?" Jack asked, finally steadying himself and beginning to roll down the window.

"I'm sorry, we didn't go over avoiding dark mythical creatures in driver's ed," Rowan replied as the boy began climbing out the window and onto the roof of her car.

"Just keep driving," he called, and in the next moment bright blue light was being reflected in her mirrors as Jack attempted to ward off any pursuing shadows. She turned down another street, finding that the lights were beginning to go out on the path they'd been following. Another sharp turn, this time to avoid hitting an oncoming car, which blasted its horn at her as she went.

_Doctor, Doctor, don't hang up the phone. I've just lost myself and I know it shows._

As the last lingering notes of the song rang out, every light on the street, including those in the surrounding homes, began to flicker until one by one, they went out. The darkness was quickly catching up with them, and Rowan swore she saw more shifting shadows up ahead.

There wasn't anywhere left to turn, not for a while.

"Just keep driving, I'll figure this out," Jack said. The nerves in his voice were not helping to calm hers at all. As the last of the streetlights went out, Rowan reached forward and turned her fog lights on. Speeding onward, she found several shadows darting out of her way, while some collided with her car with a sickening _crack_, their forms quickly taking the shape of the hood and reaching for the windshield. Her headlights began to dim and she reached for the dial again, clicking it back and forth until they returned to their former brightness.

Jack brought his staff crashing down on the hood of her car, bringing a burst of blue light with it. Rowan found herself slamming on the break pedal as she shielded her eyes from the light. There was a crash as Jack stumbled onto her hood, and when she moved her hands from her eyes, she found her headlights brightly illuminated, the dark figures gone and the surrounding darkness still and quiet. She also found Jack sliding off the hood and onto the street.

Quickly shifting into park, Rowan climbed out of her car and rushed over to the front of it where Jack had fallen, not bothering to close the car door behind her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling down next to him, trembling the whole way. "I know you told me to keep driving but I couldn't _see_ anything and… are you okay?"

"Well, running over the Shadow People with a car is a strategy we hadn't tested quite yet," Jack groaned, pulling himself into a seated position. "I'm gonna have some bruises but I should be fine. Are _you_ okay?"

"Well once I'm done with my heart attack I should be great," she said with an exhausted smile, standing up and offering him a hand, which he gladly took. "So, are they gone?"

"The ones that weren't destroyed are probably hiding now," Jack said, dusting himself off after she helped him back to his feet. "It's probably a good thing you had planned to leave the state tomorrow."

"Did they figure out who I am?" she asked.

"I don't know if that's why they attacked initially… but they have to know now, they had to have sensed it," Jack said. "Hopefully they won't try anything else tonight."

"So much for not worrying about them tonight," she groaned, walking back to the side of her car so she could climb back inside. Jack simply flew back through the window he'd left open before rolling it back up.

Rowan's phone let out a short tone, the screen illuminating. She reached for the small electronic, finding a new text message.

"From Nicolette: 'Hey guys, show's cancelled due to power outage. We offered to rock out in candlelight but the coffee shop wouldn't go for it. We'll hopefully catch you all next time.' Well, now I don't have to feel bad about ditching that. 'I couldn't make it because I was too shaken up after being chased by Shadow People' sounds like a made-up excuse," Rowan sighed, setting her phone aside and shifting back into drive.

"What is it they say? The truth is stranger than fiction?" Jack said, pulling at his seatbelt and fastening it.

"The truth will also put me in a mental institution," Rowan sighed. "What do we do now that they've found me?"

"We'll go to your parents' house tomorrow like you planned, they might not catch on if we move during the day. Then I'm probably going to have to talk to North, we have some stuff to sort out," Jack said.

"So… just the same shit we've been doing?" Rowan asked.

"Until we figure out something else."

* * *

It had taken Erato and her moonbeam entirely too long to find the tunnel entrance to the lair. It wasn't even much of a tunnel as much as it was a sort of mineshaft waiting for someone unsuspecting to fall straight down it. The moonbeam circled the hole in the ground before lurking near Erato once more.

"Oh don't look at me that way," she said to the moonbeam as she examined the hole in the faint light of the crescent moon. It seemed to go on forever, a bottomless pit of darkness. Lightly, she kicked at a pebble, watching it fall down the abyss. "I know this is a bad idea, jumping down the rabbit hole when I know something darker than Wonderland awaits me. But I need to do _something._ Surely you understand that?"

The moonbeam didn't respond. Erato wasn't sure it would have even if it had means to speak in the first place. Taking a deep breath, Erato stepped forward, closing her eyes as she began her fall, wishing more than ever that she had been one of the Muses gifted with flight. Perhaps she could work out a deal with Clio to get her own pair of wings. Her moonbeam darted after her.

Before she could make a crash landing, she was caught by a magnificent wave of sparkling black sand, which cushioned her fall and dragged her through a narrow tunnel, through a room with many elegant birdcages hanging from the ceiling. The sand finally disappeared after setting her back on her feet near the globe, tall and illuminated.

"That's a nice trick," Erato commented, brushing the sand that still clung to her skirt away.

"Thank you," said Pitch, turning away from the globe and greeting the Muse with a smile.

"So glad you could make it, Erato," Melpomene said.

"Like I said, Calliope never learns I was here," the older Muse said, running her fingers over her hair, tucking away strands that had come loose during her mad ride into the lair. "She expects this sort of thing from you, not me."

"I won't tell her, but she's well aware that romance and tragedy go hand-in-hand," Melpomene said with a shrug.

"Yes, you two do _excellent_ collaborative work," Pitch commented.

"Is that why you've called me here? I thought this was about the Shadow People," Erato said.

"It is. You know we need Pitch's help, you are the only other Muse to voice as much," Melpomene said.

"Yes, well, you know how Nicholas and Calliope feel about that option," said Erato, beginning to walk around the globe and examine her surroundings.

"This isn't a dictatorship, they do not get to make decisions _for_ us."

"So what? You want to call a vote?" Erato said, stopping to look back at the duo.

"Exactly," Pitch said. "We're working on swaying the Guardian vote, but as this concerns the alliance as a whole, the majority of the Muses must vote in favor as well. We need your help with them."

"Do not forget Tsar Lunar and Apollo, they each cast a vote as well," Erato said. "I'm not sure if you two can win this democratically, if I'm being completely honest. Unless your little _boyfriend_ feels like handing over the information for free, that is."

"Not happening," Pitch said immediately, not bothering to respond to the "boyfriend" comment.

"I figured as much, it would be far too easy," Erato yawned.

"Tsar Lunar will vote with us," Melpomene said. "Of that I am certain."

"How can you be so sure he won't vote against you just to spite you, Mel? Urania said he's _furious_ with you," Erato said. "Why must you bite the hand that feeds us?"

"Everyone expects the worst of me," Melpomene said simply. "Why shouldn't I give them what they want?"

"Times like this I remember that you are forever a teenager," Erato shook her head disapprovingly.

"The Man in the Moon is unwilling to let this go much further without intervention," Pitch said. "I am fairly confident he will vote with us, but we must get as many Muses on our side as possible, as a cushion."

"And you want me to talk to them," Erato said.

"Thalia is the only one that listens to me," Melpomene said.

"I wonder _why_ that is," Erato said sarcastically. She sighed, mentally going over the other Muses in her mind. "I can tell you right now I won't be able to sway Calliope or Polyhymnia, I won't even bother with them."

"We doubted that they would join us," Pitch said.

"What about Clio? Urania?" Melpomene asked.

"I might be able to convince Urania. I think she's overwhelmed from all the cryptic information the stars have given her; she probably wants answers from someone on _this_ planet. Clio… perhaps. I think we'd be better off relying on Euterpe and Terpsichore. They have only their moonbeams as a means of protection, Pitch's information could settle their nerves."

"So, with you, me, Thalia, Euterpe and Terpsichore, that would be a majority for the Muses," Melpomene said.

"Provided that Apollo and Tsar Lunar don't vote against us. Then there's still the matter of the Guardians," said Erato. "Nicholas _will_ vote against this."

"As will Bunnymund," Melpomene said. "We've set our focus on Jack."

"You need at least three votes from the Guardians," Erato said, holding up three fingers for emphasis.

"Jack's vote should sway the other two," Pitch said.

"You seem to have forgotten how the voting works," Erato said. "We vote Guardians first, then Muses, in the order in which we obtained our titles. This means that Jack will be the last Guardian to vote. Tooth and Sanderson will not have his vote to take into consideration before casting their own. Now, I can work on Tooth, but Calliope will _kill_ me if she finds me trying to turn Sanderson against her. Not to mention, he'd be the most justified in _not _voting in your favor."

"Thankfully, that ball of sand isn't one for grudges," Melpomene said. "We'll have to get Jack to speak with him for us, or get him to speak before the vote begins."

Erato laughed. "How exactly do you plan on doing that, Mel? That boy wants nothing to do with you! And quite frankly, I don't blame him. You really put him through the ringer all those years ago."

"We've been working on him, he's already fearful and considering outside help," Melpomene said. Erato's face fell.

"What the hell do you _mean_ you've 'been working on him?' Is that why Tsar Lunar is so angry with you? Mel, if the Guardians find out that you've been manipulating him, that you've been helping _Pitch_ manipulate him…" Erato said, fury clear in her voice.

"Pitch hasn't laid a finger on Jack and as far as _you_ and the rest of the alliance is aware, he's still in hiding," Melpomene said. "As far as Jack and I? That predates his involvement in this alliance."

"Yes, but _now he is part of it._ We are not supposed to be fighting _each other_, Mel."

"It's for the greater good of the Muses, _Erato,"_ Melpomene snapped. "Isn't that why you agreed to work with us?"

"We push him and the Mortal Muse together and scare them until he fears so much for her safety that he's willing to even accept help from me," Pitch explained.

"Oh good, you told him about the Mortal Muse too. I suppose I'm expected to keep that secret as well?" Erato said, teeth clenched.

"Yes," Melpomene said. "If you try to take me down I'll drag you with me, _sister."_

Erato sighed, crossing her arms before her chest in frustration. "So you're trying to use their feelings for each other against them, then."

"They're making it quite easy. Though, you could always help us with _that_ as well. People do insane things in the name of love, after all," Pitch said.

"What, you want me to manipulate their thoughts until they believe they're in love with each other?" Erato said, insulted. "Absolutely not, do what you must with whatever feelings that _already exist_. You know if I compel anyone to fall in love, rather than compelling them to create or act based on _already existing_ love, Cupid will be furious with me for interfering with his work. Besides, I work better with lust."

"Well, that brings us to our next inquiry. Perhaps you can speak to Cupid for us," Melpomene said. "If anyone can persuade him to lend a helping hand, surely it would be you."

"No," Erato said firmly. "You are not involving Cupid in your little scheme, I will not have the two of you jeopardizing my relationship with him just so you can manipulate Jack Frost."

"Fine, fine, Erato, it was worth a shot," Melpomene said. "It wasn't as though we _needed_ him anyway, it was just for the sake of extra insurance."

"I do not want him involved in this Shadow Person nonsense _at all._ Or I will expose what the both of you have been doing this whole time."

"No harm will come to your boy from us," Pitch said.

"I will hold you to that," Erato said, setting her hands to her hips and straightening her posture. "Now before the two of you ask anything else of me, let me just say this: I do not want to know what you've been doing to Jack Frost. I must only advise you not to harm him, or there will be consequences to face from the Guardians. I am willing to speak with the other Muses and Tooth for you _only because_ we need Pitch's information in order to eliminate this threat. I do not condone the two of you scheming together, nor do I condone you manipulating the members of our alliance to get your way. If what you've been doing comes out, I _will_ claim ignorance and they _will_ take my word over yours."

"You are positively evil sometimes," Melpomene said, though she seemed impressed with the older Muse.

"Sometimes it is necessary," Erato said. "Are we through here?"

"Yes, I believe so," Pitch said, offering Erato a small, gracious bow. "Thank you for meeting with us, your help is _greatly_ appreciated."

"Don't thank me yet, the votes have yet to be cast," Erato pointed out. "Now, Melpomene, if you would be so kind as to drop me off in Paris?"

"As you wish," Melpomene said, setting her mask to her face after linking arms with the other Muse. In an instant, they were gone.

* * *

Rowan cursed under her breath as her key jabbed at the outer edge of the lock yet again. Her hands were shaking terribly, and she had already attempted to slide the key in the lock several times without success. Jack stood beside her, watching with furrowed brow before shifting his staff from his right hand to his left.

He reached for her hand, taking it in his to steady it as she shivered slightly, feeling goosebumps rush up her arm. With his help, she finally got the key in the lock and turned it. Once the key was removed from the lock again, he released her hand from his grasp and she opened the door. She flipped the light switch, sighing in relief when the lights came on. She tugged at her peacoat, pulling it off and sliding it onto the hook.

"You've got a tear in your sleeve," Rowan said as Jack passed her. He looked down, twisting his right arm before finding the fabric at his elbow torn.

"I guess I should be glad that's the worst that happened considering I _fell off a car_. Must've snagged on the way down," he said with a sigh, propping his staff against the wall. "Happen to have a needle and thread?"

"Yeah, let me find it," she said, setting her keys down on the table. She fumbled through a storage box in the corner, heart still pounding in her ears. She couldn't shake the image of those shadows from her mind. With shaking hands, she pulled out a small sewing kit and began to look through it. She pulled out a spool of blue thread and held it against him to compare the shades of blue to each other.

"This should work," she said. He took the thread and set it on the table. "I just need to find a needle now, one second."

After pricking her fingers several times on what turned out to be a pin rather than a needle, she was able to locate one tucked away in a scrap piece of fabric. As she removed the needle, she glanced back up and couldn't help but pause at what she saw, all thoughts of Shadow People wiped from her mind.

Jack had removed his jacket, turning it inside out in preparation for the stitch job and laying it on the table. Currently, he was unraveling the spool of thread until he was satisfied he had enough to complete the job, pulling the thread to his mouth and severing it with his teeth.

This was not what distracted Rowan, however, but the fact that Jack did not wear anything under his jacket. It seemed logical enough, he probably just wore the hoodie for the sake of coverage as he didn't need it for warmth. But Jack's body temperature was the last thing on her mind, rather the fact that he was just… _not wearing his jacket._

He was lean and toned, much like a swimmer. She hadn't expected any indication of muscle, as "malnourished" was the first word she'd think to use when describing the boy's body before. To say she was taken by surprise was an understatement.

"I, uh, found the needle," she said, forcing her gaze back to his face.

"Thanks," he said, gently taking the needle from her grasp and carefully attempting to thread it. After one or two failed attempts, he was able to slide the thread through, tying the end before taking a seat at the table, pulling over his jacket to begin mending the tear.

"Do you, uh, sew a lot?" she asked. When he had asked for the needle and thread, she had honestly expected him to ask _her_ to fix his jacket.

"If you're asking if I do needlepoint for fun, no," he said, eyes fixed on his task. "But it comes in handy sometimes."

"Right, I'm sure," she said, eyes wandering back to his torso now that he was otherwise distracted. She shook her head slightly, "I'll be back."

Slipping into the bathroom, Rowan locked the door behind her and turned on the light, burring her face in her hands and groaning softly. "They had to assign the cute one to guard me, didn't they? The one with the secret abs. _Of course._"

Turning the faucet and pulling her hair back into an elastic, she realized that she had just admitted that Jack was cute. Had he heard _anything_ she had just mumbled to herself in frustration, she would never hear the end of it.

As she lathered face wash into her cheeks, scrubbing away the makeup she had applied so meticulously earlier, she tried reminding herself that Jack was over three hundred years old. As in, way older than even her thrice-great grandfather who was long since dead. Older than electricity, older than the building they were in, older than _old_. Did she really find someone older than her _father_ attractive?

Yes, yes she did. Rowan winced, finding that this line of thinking was not helping her at all. Yes, Jack was old as all hell but he _looked_ like an eighteen-year-old and acted like a peer. Most of the time she forgot that there was such an age difference between them. The only indications of his age were the very faint lines around his eyes and the stories he had to tell from centuries ago.

Rinsing the soap from her face, she sighed in frustration. She could _not_ start liking Jack Frost that way. It was simply not an option. No matter how nice his eyes or his stomach or his _being_ in general were to look at. He was immortal, she was not, and she had no desire to be. Any relationship would be doomed from the start.

As if a relationship was even an option, there was nothing to suggest that Jack returned her feelings. Well, except for that kiss on the cheek. And the way he had cradled her in his arms after she dreamt of drowning. And the fact that he had slept at her bedside the past few nights.

He made her laugh, he made her forget about her worries, he made her feel safe. She'd never met a boy she could argue with and still end up smiling.

Patting her face dry with a towel, she shook her head. No! No, no, _no._ This was all _obviously_ a result of the crazy situation they were in. They were mistaking adrenaline and fear as some kind of chemistry. This was _not_ a teen fantasy novel where the awkward-but-somehow-special human girl pairs off with the supernatural hottie with no regard to logic.

"Yeah, sure it's not, Mortal Muse," she mumbled to herself, pulling the elastic from her hair and unraveling the braid she'd fastened earlier.

She would have to just stop liking Jack. There was absolutely no reason to complicate things further by mixing romance into it. Her silly little crush, her great enjoyment that came from seeing him shirtless, it all ended here. Right now. No more.

Rowan nodded to herself shortly, her decision made, before stepping outside her bathroom. She found Jack with his jacket back on and mended, setting the spool of thread and needle back into her small sewing kit.

He turned at the sound of the door opening and offered her a smile she couldn't help returning. "Thanks again," he said as she approached.

"Of course," she replied, tugging at his sleeve to test his stitches. "Looks like a sturdy job."

"It'll do," he shrugged. "You stopped shaking."

Glancing down at her hands, Rowan found that she had, in fact, stopped trembling. Her internal struggle over Jack not wearing a shirt had apparently been enough to at least make her forget about the Shadow People for a moment.

"Well, look at that, I guess I did," she said.

"Don't worry so much, we're gonna figure this out," he assured her with another smile. Why did he have to have such a nice smile? Not liking him was going to be harder than expected.

"I'll try," she sighed.

* * *

Melpomene and Pitch both lingered atop the apartment building, like birds of prey, waiting and watching.

"I don't like this, Pitch, the lights are going out all over this town, they must have finally made their way over here from Burgess," Melpomene said, her eyes fixed on the streets in the distance, some illuminated and others in darkness.

"We will not be here long. Just enough for you to give Jack the idea to speak to Sandy and for _me_ to give dear Rowan another nightmare," Pitch said.

"Well, check on them again, are they asleep yet?" Melpomene said. Pitch disappeared into the shadows, scaling the side of the building and glancing within the window. Melpomene walked to the edge of the roof in order to keep an eye on him until he returned to her side.

"They are, finally. But it seems that Jack has taken to sleeping by her bedside, I doubt your disguise would do more than cause confusion now," Pitch said. "We will have to work quickly, with caution. Mustn't wake them."

"I only need a minute," Melpomene said, fastening her mask to her face. "Let's go."


	23. Fools Rush In

A/N: Hello there, new readers (and my loyal reviewers I love you guys)! It's so nice to hear from you, I'm looking forward to hearing more from you all in the future. I'm pleased that you all seem to have enjoyed Jack's state of undress in the last chapter, it was the response I was hoping for! Also pleased at the positive responses to the last chapter's lyrics, I was a bit nervous about posting them. As far as Cupid goes, his story (and all the other ones I've been teasing you with) will be revealed soon enough, along with what exactly his relationship is with Erato. For now, though, you get to learn a bit more about Rowan and her family in this one.

* * *

_It had been the excuse he'd been using ever since the beginning. At first, he believed it. After all, he had been sure that she couldn't see him._

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Fools Rush In**

* * *

Rowan gently set the last of her bags in her car before pulling her phone from her pocket and fiddling with the screen. Yawning, she opened a list she had made on the device and began to read off the things she had done.

"Turned off heat, locked apartment, warmed up car, packed bags, packed paintings Mom was asking about… I think I'm good," she said, taking a moment to rub at her tired eyes, having woken up far earlier than intended due to a nightmare. "All that's left is 'come up with logical reason behind the new dent on the hood of my car because Dad won't believe that Jack Frost did it.'"

"I'm telling you, I can fly us there in like five minutes, tops," Jack said, lying lazily on the top of her car, scanning the area for Shadow People.

"Well, as soon as you come up with a good reason behind me and my luggage arriving at my parents' house in record time _without_ my vehicle, I'd love to hear it," Rowan said, closing the back of her car before strolling to the driver's side.

Jack opened his mouth to respond but quickly closed it, considering this for a moment. If only the moon had granted him super strength, then he could just fly the car over as well. Of course then they'd have a very _Chamber of Secrets_ situation in which they'd have to explain a flying car to the public. Nothing could ever be easy. "Yeah, okay, I guess we're driving," he said at last.

"I guess so," Rowan said, opening the car door. "You don't have to come with me the whole way, you know, I mean, the sun's coming up in about two hours."

"I know," he said, sliding off of her car and climbing into the passenger seat. He was careful to buckle his seat belt this time, tugging on it to test its sturdiness. "It'll just make me feel better if I know you got there safe."

"Well, thank you. No comments about my driving," she said, fastening her own seatbelt and pulling out her MP3 player, plugging it in to an auxiliary cable. "Or my music."

"That's going to be very difficult for me," he said.

"You're going to have to try," Rowan said as the music started and she turned on her headlights.

"Maybe _I_ should drive," Jack suggested before Rowan had a chance to shift into gear.

"Okay, which of the two of us: A, can be seen by law enforcement officials and the rest of the people who will be on the interstate, and B, has a driver's license?" Rowan asked dryly.

"You and your technicalities," he smirked. "I've driven the _sleigh_ before."

"I'm sure that's very much like driving a car, what with the reindeer and everything," she said, finally pulling out of her parking spot and heading for the road. After a beat, she asked, "So what's the sleigh like?"

"It's really nice actually, which is probably why North hasn't let me drive it since," Jack said. "It's got a really nice paint job. Red, of course. It's really modern, streamlined, with this globe on the dashboard and- if we go back to the pole we'll have to ask North if you can see it, he loves showing it off."

"I'd like that," Rowan said, eyes fixed on the road. "Honestly, I wish I had a chance to really look around last time, it was just… overwhelming and the reason I was there sort of ruined it."

"Yeah, well, hopefully there won't be much more bad news for a little while," Jack said.

"So how did it come up, anyway, you getting to drive the sleigh?"

"Right, that. Well, it was when the Nightmares were storming the Tooth Palace, he handed me the reigns so he could focus on slicing through them with his swords," Jack said. "Honestly, it was probably because I was the closest one to him at that moment."

"So how long did you actually get to drive it?" Rowan said with a slight smirk.

"Like half a minute until I almost crashed it," Jack said sheepishly.

"And you make fun of _my_ driving," Rowan said, clicking her tongue disapprovingly as she signaled her intent to merge onto the interstate.

"Hey, you try controlling eight reindeer. And I mean giant goddamn _reindeer_, not those happy forest Bambi deer," he said. "I think I did pretty well."

"I'm going to bring this up now every time you make fun of my driving," Rowan laughed. "'Yeah? Well at least I didn't almost crash Santa's sleigh!'"

_"Almost,_" Jack emphasized, though he was laughing as well. "You feeling any better than you were earlier, by the way?"

"Yeah, it was just that whole… drowning thing, again," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Sorry for waking you. Again."

"I was just glad it wasn't Shadow People, don't worry about it, really," he smiled. When he was certain she was entirely focused on the road, he slowly reached forward, eyes on the small MP3 player resting in one of the cup holders.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he began to fiddle with the device.

"Just seeing what you've got," he said, running his fingers over the small electronic until he got the hang of scrolling through the menus. "Let's see, never heard of them, never heard of them, don't think that's English, never heard of them… hmm…"

"Just remember, I said no making fun of my music," she said.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," he said. His face lit up when he finally found an artist that he not only knew, but enjoyed. "Oh, we're playing this," he said, selecting the artist and reaching forward to turn the volume dial up just slightly.

Leaning back in his seat, he smiled as "Heartbreak Hotel" came pulsing through the speakers, mouthing along to the words.

"Elvis fan, hm?" Rowan asked.

"The King was the greatest, I used to sneak into his shows all the time," Jack said, smiling as he remembered attempting to style his unruly hair into a pompadour back then and failing most of the time. "The first real rock star, you know? Plus there were always lots of pretty girls at his shows."

"I'd love to go back in time and see some musicians… who else have you seen?"

"Well, I saw Mozart, Beethoven, all those guys, way back when I was just getting started with this immortality business," Jack said.

"Did you happen to hear him perform 'Moonlight Sonata'?"

"Yeah, that one was intense."

"Oh God, that piece gives me chills," Rowan sighed. "Who else?"

"Oh I'm sure I'm gonna forget some," Jack said, racking his mind. Three hundred years and you see a lot of musical acts come and go. "Sinatra, Crosby, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, the Les Paul Trio, The Andrews Sisters, Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin, Chet Baker, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bowie-"

"I am going to fall over and die from jealousy. Did you ever see The Runways?"

"Their singer pranced around stage in a corset, of course I did," Jack laughed. "They were crazy. That was the first time I saw Van Halen, actually, when they opened for them. Saw Joan when she went solo, too, and Lita. It's nice to see they're still performing."

"Okay we have to stop talking about this or I'm going to start hating you, _so jealous,"_ Rowan groaned.

"Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Guns 'n Roses before it became the Axl Rose show, Queen, The Who, The Cure, the Smiths- okay I'll stop here," Jack smiled.

"Some day, when my jealousy calms, I will ask you for details about every single one of them," Rowan said.

"I'll tell you what I remember, some of them are blurs," he said.

"Looking forward to it," she said, reaching for her coffee mug and taking a drink, eyes still fixed on the road. It was dark, and still would be for quite a while, but passing cars still served to illuminate Rowan's face every few moments.

For once, Jack was thankful for the darkness. If only because he certainly did not want it to be obvious that he was now watching her, with "Can't Help Falling In Love" playing on the stereo as though The King was hoping to taunt him from beyond the grave.

Earlier, when Rowan had woken with a start after another nightmare, waking him as well, he found himself pulling her into his arms yet again, though this time with far less hesitation. It seemed to be the only logical response now, almost instinct, to hold her as close as he could manage.

She smelled like vanilla, and even in the time he had spent lurking her apartment, he hadn't been able to figure out if this was due to some girly soap, perfume, or if she just somehow naturally gave off the sweet smell.

Her hair was soft, her skin was soft, she fit so well in his arms. It was all so ridiculous, he almost found himself rolling his eyes at the thought. He'd always thought that it was nonsense, those movies and novels, songs even, that described just feeling _right_ when with another person.

Now he thought of Rowan fitting in his arms like a puzzle piece, like that somehow that was where she was just supposed to be. It was all so sappy and he was quite frankly embarrassed of himself for having such a thought.

The fact was that he had known Rowan for approximately two weeks, if that. A lot had happened, certainly, but it had still been two weeks. Two weeks that had started off with a taser to the chest and her insisting that she didn't trust him. Jack had been around for a long time; he'd watched a lot of people and a lot of relationships come and go. It made no sense that he cared about her this much. It made no sense to be secretly watching her from the passenger seat, remembering how soft her hair was as she absentmindedly fiddled with a strand of it.

He remembered the roses he'd given her, what Bunny had told him. _Courting a mortal is a terrible idea. It's never _not_ a terrible idea._

Oh but Bunny! He wasn't courting a mortal! It was all about her stories! Rowan's stories, not Rowan. Rowan's drawings, not Rowan. It had nothing to do with the girl telling the stories, the way her eyes lit up as she spoke of pirates and witches, adventures and plot twists.

It had been the excuse he'd been using ever since the beginning. At first, he believed it. After all, he had been sure that she couldn't see him. Why even entertain the idea of being with a girl that literally didn't know you existed?

But then she did. Then he got her to laugh, to smile.

And now here he was, listening to Elvis Presley sing about fools rushing in while watching this girl he'd known for less than a month in the poor lighting of the interstate.

This girl that was in danger of having her soul consumed, with Jack currently being the only one standing between her and such a fate. The thought of failing scared him more than ever the more time he spent with her. All he wanted was to protect her, just as he had promised Jamie he would, but he wasn't sure he could. He'd fought off the Shadow People the previous night, sure, but if they grew in numbers and continued their attacks, he knew he wouldn't be able to handle it on his own.

The new moon was less than a week away, Manny's moonbeams would be useless if he needed assistance.

He couldn't do this alone. He wasn't sure waiting until after Christmas for a solution was going to work. Especially if the Shadow People had figured out that Rowan was the target they'd been seeking, and something told Jack that they most definitely had.

There was only one option, and Jack hated it. They'd have to ask Pitch for help, find out how to defeat the Shadow People _now_.

But North was understandably against this, and going behind the Guardians' backs directly to Pitch would end in disaster. Ever since he'd woken up, however, in the back of his mind he somehow knew that he had to talk to Sandy. He was the oldest Guardian, arguably the most patient, and with the most experience when it came to the Muses and Pitch in general.

Sandy would know what to do. Or, he'd at least point Jack in the right direction.

Right now, as he watched the Mortal Muse, whose life was in danger and who he cared far too much about, he figured he could use some direction.

"You're being awful quiet, Jack, you feeling okay?" Rowan asked.

"Just thinking," he said.

"About anything interesting?" she asked.

"Just that you've made it this far without almost killing us," he joked. She reached over with one hand and shoved him, a grin on her face.

"I'm not the one that almost crashed Santa's sleigh!"

The rest of the drive, all however many hours it was (Jack stopped counting at some point), went much the same. Jack would make comments on the music in her library, choosing a new artist as the previous one ran out of songs. New conversations would start, which usually ended with the two of them making fun of each other or Jack commenting on her driving, which only ended with Rowan taunting the whole half-minute of driving experience he had.

There were a few stops along the way in order to fill gas tanks and coffee mugs. Jack found himself beginning to nod off until Rowan stopped at a traffic light.

"We're not on the highway anymore," Jack said, looking around, suddenly wide awake.

"Good job, Sherlock," Rowan replied.

"Please tell me we're almost there," he pleaded.

"We're almost there," she laughed.

"_Yes._ I don't want to see another car for a _week_," he groaned.

"Same here," Rowan said, driving again once the light turned green.

"So what are your parents like?" he asked, interested in his surroundings now that it was something other than highway and other cars.

"Well, I'm their only kid so they're super protective," she said. "It's part of why I went to school so far away, so it would be harder for them to smother me. They're getting better, I suppose."

"So that's where you get your tendency to worry about absolutely _everything_ from," Jack said as though he had just figured out some great mystery.

"I guess! Since I started school, they usually calm down when I'm home, like being able to see me every day makes them less worried or something. Besides that, Mom's kind of intense sometimes, she's an attorney and people get legitimately scared when they have to go up against her. And Dad, well… he likes science fiction."

"Big Star Wars nerd?" Jack asked.

"He's been on a Firefly kick for a while, he's got quite the impressive collection," Rowan shrugged. "It's probably good I'm their only child since it allows him to spend money on strange pieces of merchandise."

"What does he do?"

"He is actually a financial advisor. It never ceases to amaze me that people pay a guy who owns an exact replica of Malcolm Reynolds' coat to tell them how to spend their money."

"How much was the coat?" Jack asked, brow furrowed.

"You don't want to know," Rowan sighed as they pulled up to a gated community and she rolled down her window to punch in the entrance code. Jack eyed the large houses, most of which were covered in Christmas lights by now, letting out a low whistle.

"Nice neighborhood," he commented as the gate opened to allow them entrance.

"Yeah, maybe this is why people still go to Dad for financial advice," she shrugged, turning down another street.

"This might be in bad taste to ask, but if this is where your parents live why are you in that tiny studio apartment?" Jack asked, examining the houses as they passed. Each seemed more impressive than the last, with elegant front doors and giant windows showing off large Christmas trees.

"My parents definitely help me out, but they don't want me to be totally reliant on them. They've always been very clear that their money is not _my_ money," Rowan explained. "Like, it would have been cheaper if I lived with a roommate, so that's what they wanted me to do, that's what they were willing to pay for. But the girl I lived with at student housing last year was psychotic and stole supplies from me until I started locking them in my car. So, that already sort of put me off the idea. Then Shirley and I were thinking of rooming together this year but she moved in with Adam instead, so I saved up all summer to make the rent difference so I could live by myself."

"Got ditched for a boy, doesn't that violate girl code or something?" Jack asked.

"You'd think. That's another thing, it was just hard to find someone to live with. Everyone's moving in with their boyfriends or already _does_ live with their boyfriend. At least she told me a few months before," Rowan said with a roll of the eye before pulling into the driveway of a house coated in Christmas lights and an obscene amount of other decorations, including giant candy canes, an inflatable snowman, and plastic representations of Santa Claus and his reindeer on the roof. The Santa and reindeer were particularly strange to see, simply due to the inaccuracy.

They never made North look badass enough.

"I don't think your parents are getting into the spirit enough," Jack said sarcastically.

"My mom has declared war with the old woman down the street when it comes to Christmas decorations, she's probably not even done yet," Rowan said, shutting off her car and unbuckling her seatbelt before sliding out of the vehicle. Jack quickly exited the car as well, now that there was no one around to see the passenger door open and close.

Rowan hadn't even had a chance to find the house key on her lanyard when the front door burst open, revealing a middle-aged woman in a thick grey sweater. The resemblance to Lorelei Bennett was nearly uncanny, though it was clear this woman was much older, Jack estimated perhaps a decade, with dark circles beneath her large brown eyes. She didn't wear glasses as Lorelei did, and her hair seemed to be a darker brown, possibly due to dye. It was shorter and gently curled.

But the body types and manners in which they walked were the same, the height nearly was too. If I weren't already obvious by the fact that she was answering the Sawyers' front door, it didn't take long to figure out that this was Dot, Rowan's mother and Lorelei's older sister.

"Hey Mom-" Rowan started, confirming Jack's musings. Before she could even consider uttering another word, the woman pulled Rowan into a back-breaking hug, a huge grin on her face.

"Oh, my Roo! I've missed you so much, I'm so glad you got here okay!"

"Roo?" Jack asked, snickering. Rowan rolled her eyes, gently hugging her mother in return.

"I've missed you, too. But Mom, this hurts," Rowan winced before her mother finally released her.

"Bill! Get down here! Rowan's home!" Dot called before turning back to Rowan and beginning to fuss over her, pushing her bangs out of her face. "Have you been eating enough, Roo? You're so thin, haven't you been buying groceries? I know you have money for food. You don't have to be a _starving_ artist, you know. You look exhausted, have you been getting enough sleep?"

"I just drove here all the way from-" Rowan started before a man emerged from the house. He was quite tall, with the same mole on the inner corner of his right eye that Rowan had and a neatly combed brown hair and mustache combination. His eyes were a dark green and he wore a sweatshirt for some university that Jack was not familiar with.

He pulled Rowan into a hug, far more gently than his wife had. "Hey Angel Face, how was the drive over?"

"It was good, Dad," Rowan said, returning his hug.

When he released her from his hold he examined his daughter for no longer than a few seconds before asking, "Have you been eating?"

"That's what I said," Dot said.

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Rowan sighed.

"You start working on one of your projects and then forget to eat sometimes, Angel Face, we worry," Bill said. "Are you at least taking a vitamin? You need to eat more vegetables, I can tell."

"You were not kidding about the worrying," Jack laughed, shaking his head at the couple.

"I'm, uh, gonna get my bags," Rowan said, turning her heel and heading back to the driveway, closely followed by her parents.

"What happened here?" Bill said, approaching the hood of Rowan's jeep and pointing to the dent, irritation clear on his face.

"Not a clue," Rowan said, shaking her head. "Woke up this morning and it was like that."

"_Rowan Jean._ Don't you think this car has _enough_ dents?"

"I promise you it wasn't me!" she insisted, opening the back of her car to retrieve her bags. Dot took the bags that Rowan had not taken, rolling her eyes at her daughter and husband the whole way.

"We'll bang it out later," Bill muttered, lightly touching the dent. Jack smiled nervously in Rowan's direction and she simply rolled her eyes again, in much the same manner her mother just had.

"Bill, get the paintings," Dot told her husband as she and Rowan passed him with her luggage, heading into the house. Jack followed them inside, the large, synthetic Christmas tree catching his eye. It was one of the glistening, silver ones, currently undecorated. There was the strong smell of _something_ delicious cooking in the kitchen.

"We were waiting for you to come home before we started on the tree," Dot said as she and Rowan set her bags at the foot of the stairs. The rest of the living room, which this front room seemed to be, was already very much decorated with strings of lights and beads, as well as Christmas-themed figurines.

Jack, however, found himself distracted by the collection of family photos on the far wall. There were quite a few of Jamie and Sophie, even a handful of Abbey, the greyhound. There were pictures of Lorelei and Dot when they were younger and what appeared to be Rowan's father and perhaps his brother. The most interesting, however, were the series of pictures that were very clearly Rowan's school photos.

Jack turned back to Rowan, pointing to one of the pictures and smirking. "Nice hair," he said. She blushed, turning away as she had no means to currently explain to him why in that picture she had very long, bright pink hair.

"Are you making shepherd's pie?" Rowan asked her mother, who had begun to sort through the paintings her father had just brought in.

"I want all of these," Dot said, picking up one of the still lives and holding against the nearby wall as though to test how it would look there. "And yes, but it won't be done for a little while."

"I missed your shepherd's pie, Mom," Rowan said, hugging the woman briefly once more. "I'm gonna take my stuff upstairs, you guys, uh, keep laying claim to my assignments."

Gathering together her bags, Rowan started up the stairs, Jack following close behind. Once they were out of sight from her parents, he took hold of one of the bags in an attempt to help her out. She soon pushed open a door, revealing a room with bright pink and black walls coated in posters of various eyeliner-clad musicians and old artwork. There was a double bed with black blankets and pillows that all seemed to blend into one another, a desk and chair, and a rather impressive bookshelf.

"Yeah, I decorated this room when I was fifteen, no judging," Rowan said, setting down her bags. Jack set down the one he was carrying as well, and seemed to be trying not to laugh.

"Was that when your hair was pink, too?" he asked.

"I dyed it pink when I was fourteen, fortunately I did that after they took yearbook pictures. _Unfortunately_, I was somehow able to keep up with it until the _next_ year's yearbook pictures," she sighed. "So, yes, my hair was still pink when I was fifteen, and if I leaned up against that pink wall and stayed _real still_ it was almost like I wasn't there."

"Impressive," he said.

"I also had a fake lip ring that got caught on my braces and… it was all so unfortunate," Rowan said, burying her face in her hands in shame.

"Aw, that's right, Tooth mentioned you had braces."

"Four years. _Four years of braces, Jack._ That's just cruel, I finally got them off the summer before my junior year."

"I'm learning so much about you," Jack snickered. "So why are you 'Roo'?"

Rowan plopped down on the foot of her bed and sighed. "My mom is Kanga. I'm Roo. There. Go on and laugh, get it out of your system."

"That's adorable," Jack said, indeed laughing a little.

"Oh, so now _I'm_ the cute one," Rowan said.

"I said the nickname was cute, not you," Jack said, amused.

"You think I'm cute," she said in a sing-song voice.

"You're ridiculous."

"Ridiculously _cute."_

The pair couldn't help but laugh for a moment. Jack approached the nearby alarm clock, checking the time before pulling back the curtains to take a look outside.

"There's still some time before sunset," he said, turning back to Rowan. "I'll be back soon, I promise, I just have to go talk to the Sandman."

"All right," Rowan said with a nod. "Thanks for keeping me company today, Jack."

"You're welcome," he smiled before unlocking her window and sliding it open. He climbed through, careful not to knock over the plastic reindeer before flying off into the distance.

"C'mon wind, take me somewhere it's already night," Jack called. It wasn't long before he reached the darkness of another part of the world, Sandy's dream creatures roaming about.

"Okay, Sandman, where are you?" Jack mumbled to himself as he followed the twisting streams of dream sand, finally finding their source at Sandy's golden dream cloud. The small man happily directed his sand every which way as he remained perched on his swirling cloud, pausing only when he saw Jack approaching. He waved at him in greeting.

"Hey Sandy, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jack said, hesitantly landing on the cloud, quickly finding that it would support his weight as well. He kneeled down in order to be on the other Guardian's level, just as images began to flash above his head.

"Rowan should be fine, it's still daylight there. But we ran into some Shadow People last night," Jack said in response to the sand images. Sandy seemed surprised and North's silhouette, along with a question mark, appeared above his head. "No, I haven't told North yet. But considering the whole 'he knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake' thing, I'm sure he'll find out soon enough."

More images. Jack watched carefully; sometimes he still had trouble keeping up with Sandy. "Yeah, we're fine, I got a little banged up but nothing serious. Rowan's in another state now, so hopefully it will take the Shadow People a little longer to find her again, but… I don't know, Sandy, I'm afraid I won't be able to beat them if more of them attack next time, or if they get to the point where they're faster or stronger… I couldn't beat Pitch by myself and we actually had half a clue what we were up against."

Sandy pointed to Jack and made a few more gestures with his hands as the sand above his head continued to take different shapes. "I appreciate your faith in me, Sandy, but I think we both know that I can't do this alone. I'm afraid that if we wait until after Christmas, something bad might happen. All I want is to keep her safe and… I know this isn't what anyone wants to hear but I'm starting to think that maybe we _should_ ask Pitch for help."

Pitch's silhouette and more appeared above Sandy's head.

"I know, asking him for help is a big risk, but waiting around and putting all our eggs in one basket is even riskier. We need another plan besides 'Jack will protect Rowan.' I just don't know how to do it without going behind North's back. I don't want a repeat of Easter, I don't think they'll forgive me a second time."

This time the image that appeared above Sandy's head was of a ballot.

"A vote?" Jack asked. More images flashed above the older Guardian's head. "So at the next meeting, someone – I guess me, or Melpomene at this point – calls a vote to decide if we go to Pitch for help or not."

Sandy nodded.

"Who all votes?" Jack asked. The sun, the moon, a "G" and an "M" each appeared above Sandy's head. "So all of us: the Guardians, the Muses, the sun, and Manny… how many do we need to win?"

The simple equation of "½ + 1" appeared above Sandy's head.

"Majority rules, all right… I don't know, Sandy. Five Guardians, Nine Muses, the sun and the moon… That means we need at least nine votes."

Sandy shook his head, the fancy script "M" making an appearance above his head once more before a "10."

"Ten Muses?" Jack said, brow furrowed. "What, you mean Rowan?"

Jack watched carefully as a few more images flashed above Sandy's head.

"Okay, so what I'm getting is that Rowan's technically part of the alliance, so she would get a vote," Jack said hesitantly. Sandy nodded before continuing to form more images. "But she can decline to vote beforehand. I can bring her refusal to vote to the meeting in writing, but if I don't and she's not around for the vote, the results are voided."

Sandy nodded yet again.

"This is all very political," Jack said, shaking his head. "Where do you even get this information?"

The image of the book that contained the Guardian's oath appeared above Sandy's head.

"Right, that makes sense, I think North told me to read that and I went and made blizzards instead," said Jack. Reading wasn't as fun when someone told you to do it. "I don't know, I might not be able to get the votes. I can't say _I_ would have voted to ask Pitch for help a week ago."

As images began to form above Sandy's head, Jack stared at the short man in surprise. "Wait, you'll vote with me? I figured you'd side with Calliope, especially after what Pitch did to you a few months ago."

More images. Sandy seemed to be implying that sometimes grudges had to be set aside for the greater good.

"And Calliope won't be angry with you?" Jack asked. Sandy smiled nervously, as though to imply that she probably would be. He then simply shrugged, however, implying that he had dealt with her angry many times before.

"Well, we might just be able to win this, then," Jack said. "I'll talk to North tomorrow."


	24. Yelena

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks again for the reviews, I read and appreciate every single one! This chapter involves one of the big reveals you've been waiting for (in case you didn't catch on from the chapter title). Now, as a warning, some religious concepts are discussed (i.e. heaven) but I don't think that should be anything too uncomfortable for anyone. North's holiday _is_ religion-based after all, and I don't believe I got preachy at all. I'm not religious myself but it seemed appropriate for the chapter, hope you guys enjoy.

* * *

_"You are willing to overlook all he's done for her sake?"_

_"I'm willing to call a truce if it means she'll be safe. It's the best for all of us."_

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Yelena**

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Jack ducked as a platform loaded with wrapped gifts was hoisted on a pulley system past him. He was beginning to wonder if there was ever a moment when the yetis rested or took a break. His mind raced with the concept of a yeti's labor union, though the creatures were so loyal to North he doubted they'd ever organize a strike or anything like that.

North hadn't been in the globe room or his workshop. If he had been in his sleeping quarters, he hadn't answered when Jack knocked. He wasn't looking forward to searching the entire workshop for the man, it was so vast and large.

"Hey, Phil!" Jack said, approaching the familiar yeti, meticulously tying a bow on a wrapped box. Maybe he _wouldn't_ have to search the entire pole, top to bottom. "Where's North?"

Phil gently placed the box with a pile of some others before turning his attention to Jack, speaking to him quickly in a language he didn't understand. Jack raised a brow before finally saying, "Can you _point_ me in the right direction?"

The yeti sighed before pointing off toward another part of the factory. "Thanks," Jack said before flying off, careful to dodge piles of gifts and elves who were still busy hanging strings of lights. He found North helping one of the yetis hoist a rather large gift onto a platform before it was taken away.

"Jack!" North said with a smile once he saw the boy.

"Hey, North, I know you're busy but-" Jack started.

"I always have time for you, Jack," North said. "Come, let's go to my workshop, we will talk there."

"All right," Jack said, finally landing so that he could walk with the man.

"I heard of your encounter with the Shadow People the other night," North commented as the pair climbed into one of the various lifts, which would take them to the level of the factory where his workshop resided.

"I figured you would have," Jack said. "I know you told us not to go out after dark, but-"

"You did well against them, Jack! Just as I knew you would. Rowan did not do so poorly herself, running them down with her car. Not strategy I would have gone with, but somewhat effective," North said with a warm smile as the lift came to a stop, kicking the door open and leading the way to his workshop.

"I honestly don't think either of us thought much of it through," Jack said.

"Well, it worked, regardless. Have they bothered you since?" North asked.

"No, I'm not sure they know she's changed location," Jack said. "But that's sort of what I wanted to talk to you about, North, this whole… thing with me playing Rowan's bodyguard."

"What about it?" North asked, pushing open the door to his workshop. Once Jack was inside, North closed the door and settled himself into his rolling chair. Jack took a seat atop the table, propping his staff against the ground and leaning against it.

"I don't think I can do this myself, North," Jack said. "I mean, you're all relying on me to keep Rowan's powers safe so that basically the whole world won't fall into this depressive state. And it's not just the Guardians, it's the Muses that expect this out of me, and-"

"Jack, your staff is all that has proven effective against the Shadow People, and we cannot test our other weapons until after Christmas, you know this. I have complete confidence in you," North said, cutting the younger spirit off.

"And I appreciate that, really, but the Shadow People know Rowan's the Mortal Muse now, don't they?"

North hesitated for a short moment. "Yes, they do."

"So they're going to focus all their efforts on her. They're going to try more attacks and this time around there's going to be more of them. Stronger ones, faster ones, we _still_ don't know much about them. In a few days it'll be the new moon and Manny won't be able to help me even if he thinks I need it," Jack said. "I don't think I'll be able to beat them, North, we need another plan."

"There is no other plan," North said.

"Yes there is," Jack said hesitantly. North watched Jack suspiciously, which just served to make the boy more nervous. "We can get more information sooner than Christmas, sooner than the new moon, if we ask Pitch for help."

"Jack, you cannot be serious," North said immediately.

"I know you don't want to, and I know why, but I can't risk her life because of a grudge," Jack said desperately. "I want to call another meeting, tomorrow if we can, I want to call a vote and if enough of the others agree… we can make him a deal, set strict terms in exchange for the information."

North watched the younger Guardian for a moment, the serious expression on his face giving away the deep thought he was currently undergoing. Finally, he spoke, "You are willing to overlook all he's done for her sake?"

"I'm willing to call a truce if it means she'll be safe. It's the best for all of us," Jack said, avoiding eye contact with the older man. "I can't stand him, he's a manipulative son of a bitch but he knows the darkness better than we do."

"I do not agree with this line of action," North said. "And I cannot say that I will vote with you, Jack. But, as it is, you are fully within our guidelines to call a vote, and if the decision is made to contact Pitch, I suppose I will have to live with it. I will send message to Urania, she will gather the others and we will have meeting tomorrow. Both sides will present their case and then we vote."

Jack nodded, swallowing nervously. "I'm really sorry, North-"

"Do not be," North said gently. "It is certainly not the first time I have had a disagreement with another Guardian, and I am sure it will not be the last."

"I just… I feel like this is our best option. _Her_ best option," said Jack weakly.

"You care very much for Rowan," North said. It was very clearly a statement, not a question.

"I promised Jamie I would protect her," Jack said vaguely.

"It is more than that, though, is it not?" North asked. Jack was silent, his mind racing back to sleeping at her bedside the past few nights, the pecks on the cheek, the absolute fear he had that she might not survive this whole ordeal.

The way her eyes lit up when she told a story or laughed at one of his. She hadn't worked much on hers the past few days with everything else going on.

Speaking of stories...

"I want to tell you a story, Jack," North said, breaking the silence. Jack watched the other Guardian in confusion.

"A story?" he repeated.

North rolled his chair across to another part of his worktable and began to fumble through some of the drawers. Jack stood from his place on the table and hovered a few inches above the ground in the hopes of seeing what North was searching for. It seemed the drawers he was sorting through were filled with various knick-knacks and keepsakes.

Returning to Jack, North handed the boy a small picture frame. Looking down, Jack found a drawing of a handsome young couple, the page yellowed with age. The man was tall, strong, and dressed from head to toe in furs. He had a scruffy black beard and messy black hair.

The woman was nearly as tall as the man, wearing a great amount of furs as well. She had long, red locks, and stern, green eyes. Her smile was infectious. The belt on her coat was pulled tight enough to hint at the curves beneath, and somehow Jack knew that she was a force to be reckoned with, strong and sturdy.

"Who're they?" Jack asked.

"Do you truly not recognize the man?" North said with a small chuckle. Jack's eyes darted between the old man before him and the young man in the drawing. The young man with the dark hair had familiar blue eyes. Jack opened his mouth briefly to speak, but soon closed it again, confusion clear on his face.

"That's you?" he said, finally.

"In my youth," North said with another chuckle.

"Who's the girl?" Jack said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Her name was Yelena," North said, a smile playing at his lips as he spoke. "She was my wife. My solnishka, my bright, shining sun."

"There was a Mrs. St. North?" Jack said, taking a seat on North's worktable again he continued to look at the drawing. There were many Christmas stories that included a Mrs. Claus but Jack had never thought much into the fact that there wasn't a woman lurking about pole and baking cookies.

"Many centuries ago, before your time. Is why I have no photographs," North explained, leaning back in his chair a bit as he spoke. "But yes, there was indeed a Mrs. St. North."

"But not anymore," Jack said hesitantly, trailing off.

North shook his head, though the soft smile was still present on his face. "No, she passed, as I said, many centuries ago."

"I'm sorry," Jack said. North shook his head.

"Some days, I am sad she is gone, but not today," he said. "Today, I tell you about her. Bunny thinks you would benefit from the story."

Jack's mind darted back to the times Bunny had insisted Jack talk to North about getting close to mortals. Yelena must have obviously been one, he realized, his eyes returning to her face on the drawing.

"Back when we met, folklore was far more accepted in the world. It was a time when legends and myth were used to explain what science can now prove. It was a time when it was not uncommon for those who were past childhood to be able to see me, and I did some travelling. I had found her village when a grand celebration was in progress, and I decided to stay for the festivities. I met many fascinating people before night fell and music began to play. But she caught my eye as she danced," North said. "She was filled with so much life, and the more that I watched her, the more inspired I became. A great energy grew within me, and I wanted to create great masterpieces, I wanted to write great lyrics, but most of all, I wanted simply to dance with her."

"She was a Mortal Muse," Jack said, looking up from the drawing again. Again he remembered comments Bunny had made about associating with Mortal Muses _again_, when he insisted the boy speak with North.

"Yes, but neither of us knew this at the time," North said. "I also was a terrible dancer at this time, and when I cut in, she laughed as I stumbled about. She eventually abandoned me, leaving me embarrassed among the other dancing couples. I had made up my mind to forget about her, but this was evidently not to be, as on my way out of town the next morning, I found her with a group of children, telling them the stories of legend and stopped to listen. She got some details wrong about a certain legend. I no longer remember which one it even was, but I corrected her and we began to argue until she said that the only way I could know she was wrong was if I was there. I told her that perhaps I _had_ been and she simply wrote me off as insane and gathered together the children, leading them away from me so she may continue telling her fables in peace."

"Sounds like she didn't like you much, North," Jack smirked. North returned the smile.

"She did not think highly of me, no. I returned to the pole, focused on my work for the next year, but some nights I would still have dreams of her," said North, rolling back over to the drawers and fumbling around until he pulled out a music box. He rolled back to where Jack sat, setting the music box beside him before turning the key. As music began to play, the box opened to reveal a meticulously carved and painted figure of Yelena, dancing to the music. "Always of her dancing, always of the way she laughed and the fire behind her eyes. When I realized it was coming close to the time of the festival, I returned to the town, hoping to run into her again.

"When I got to the village, however, it was quiet. The whole town had squeezed its way into the small court house, I soon learned, and pushed my way inside as well."

"What was going on there?" Jack asked.

"A trial. A _witch_ trial. Imagine my surprise when I saw that beautiful redhead insisting to the court that she was not a witch. It seemed that her stories had frightened some children and interested too many others in the idea of wielding magic, inspiring them to pretend they could cast spells or fly. Aside from that, she had many ideas about her place as a woman that would not seem shocking now, but were terrifying for many at the time. Men were furious with her for trying to tell their wives that they were _people_ and not simply extensions of their husbands and property to be obtained. Actually, many woman were disgusted with her for this, appalled that she had stated she would rather die an old maid than marry a man who saw her as less than an equal. They claimed she used magic to influence other young girls, and in a way, with her abilities as a Mortal Muse, she had.

"Her downfall in this trial was that she did not deny stating any of this. She insisted that she was smarter than each man in that room, taller than most of them, and probably stronger than a great deal as well, and that the only reason she was on trial was because they feared a woman being superior to them in any way. By the time she finished speaking, she had signed her own death certificate. They sentenced her to death by hanging and locked her away."

Jack winced. He remembered witch trials; he'd watched more than he could count back when he had first become Jack Frost. Knowing real magic, knowing of existing magical beings, knowing full well that the people put on trial were _not_ these beings, had always been unsettling.

And yet he had watched the executions, just as the general public did. He didn't know what he could possibly do to help without incriminating the victims further (receiving help from winter itself? Witchcraft!). It was entertainment in that day and age, everyone gathered to watch people die.

Jack didn't like to think of the amount of people he'd watched die back then, though public executions or otherwise. He didn't like to think of that first century or so in general.

"So what did you do?" Jack asked.

"I waited for night to fall and found the cell where they were keeping her. Even as I was doing it, I wondered what compelled me to do so much for a woman I barely knew, a woman who had only laughed at me in the past. I easily defeated the guard and took his key, but when I unlocked her cell, she would not leave.

"I told her to come quickly. We would have to leave as soon as possible if she wished to live. Still she would not move, she insisted that running away would only be admitting guilt, that she would rather face the gallows speaking the truth. I told her that she would not change anyone's mind and she pointed out that if I believed her, surely there were others.

"I asked her again to come with me, I insisted that she was not fit for the role of martyr and she grew angry with me, demanding to know what gave me the right to make decisions for her, to decide what was best for her."

"Sounds like someone I know," Jack smiled, thinking back to the times Rowan had lectured him about telling her what she did and didn't want.

"I told her that it was true, I did not know her, but I could feel her spirit. It was fierce and strong. She had a whole life of adventures that she had yet to have, adventures she could not have while in this small village. She had worlds to see and things to learn, lives to change. None of which she could do while hanging from a rope. I asked her if she was truly done living, if she was truly ready to throw away her entire life for the sake of a village that could not handle her spirit."

"I'm guessing you were able to convince her," Jack said. North smiled.

"She finally agreed to come with me and I brought her to the sleigh so we could make our escape. I remember her laughing at me again as we climbed in, asking if I was supposed to be Saint Nicholas or something with my great reindeer instead of horses. Her laughter came to a sudden halt as we became airborne. After a moment of awed silence, she began to ask whom I was, where we were going, what was going on. She believed herself to be going insane."

"Again, sounds like someone I know," said Jack.

"I explained to her who I was and that we were headed for the North Pole, where she would stay until we found a new location for her or the village's rage died down. She was upset for a time, believing that I had simply moved her from one prison to another. I told her, find a new place that she wished to go, and I would take her. Anywhere in the world, provided that it was not the small corner of Russia that now wanted her dead."

"Did she ever pick a place?" Jack asked.

"No. She insisted she needed time to decide, and would work in the meantime to earn her stay. She said there were simply too many places in the world for her to make such a decision in haste, but I believe she _wanted_ to remain at the pole for a time, to fully explore it and its wonders. Even on her deathbed, however, she would never admit such a thing; she was always so stubborn. But I remember seeing her discarding her chores in order to speak to the Yetis, determined to learn their language, which she eventually did. She would watch them work and ask how to use their tools. She took the reindeer out to run and fly, they trusted her entirely. She could have easily taken one and left, gone anywhere in the world… and yet she remained. She _did_ later admit to me that she was happiest here at the pole."

"So how did you guys get together, then?"

"We had meals together, which I very much enjoyed. The Yetis are excellent company but it was nice to have another person to talk to every once in a while. We grew to be good friends through the mealtime conversations. I told her of my adventures and my past as a bandit-"

"I really want to hear _those_ stories at some point," Jack said, mind filling with thoughts of a younger North marauding around the world.

North laughed. "Stories for another time! But Yelena enjoyed them as well, and one evening when I was preparing for Christmas, which was quickly approaching, she came to me with a letter. She said that she knew that she had not been very nice, but as I had overlooked it before, perhaps I would again. When she left, I opened the letter to find that she had requested a gift from me for Christmas: fencing lessons. She said if my stories were true, if I was in fact the grand swordsman I claimed to be, she could think of no better teacher.

"Every year on Christmas, after I have finished delivering gifts, the other Guardians come to the pole and we celebrate and exchange gifts with each other. You are, of course, to be part of that tradition starting this year, Jack."

"Really?" Jack said, surprised. It was like having a family! A real family to celebrate Christmas with. He'd gotten so used to spending these holidays by himself, and after everything else that had happened recently, he hadn't even considered how Christmas would go this year.

"Of course, you are Guardian now," North smiled. "Yelena was hesitant at first, feeling as though she was intruding on our traditions, but I insisted that she come and meet the others I had told her so much about. She was delighted to hear their stories and they were more than happy to share them. After they had departed, I asked her to walk with me and brought her down to a large room I have set aside for when I feel the need to practice my combative skills. I handed her a foil and we began our lessons.

"Yelena was usually very fast learner but she did not take to fencing right away. With every defeat she grew more frustrated, _angry_ that she did not have natural talent for the sport. I caught her many times practicing on her own until the early hours of the morning, even convincing some of the yetis to spar with her for the sake of practice. For very long time she was on quite the impressive losing streak. I believe she lost to some elves standing on each other's shoulders once. She claimed she would quit her lessons many times but still arrived each day with her sword in hand.

"I enjoyed the lessons simply because I enjoyed spending time with her and seeing her improve, even if it was at a slow pace. She beamed with pride when she finally defeated me and we began to practice more advanced moves." North fumbled through his drawers again, handing Jack another picture, this one of the two of them engaged in a sword fight, grins on their faces and laughter in their eyes.

"Who drew all these?" Jack had to ask. The drawings were very good.

"The yetis are more talented than I often give them credit for," North chuckled. "One night I asked Yelena if she would give me lessons in something, as I had already dedicated so many hours to teaching her fencing. She asked what she could possibly teach an immortal man that had seen so much and had so many adventures. I reminded her that I was a terrible dancer, and once more she laughed at me before taking me by my hands and pulling me out to the floor. I took to dancing about as quickly as she took to fencing. I stumbled about like a great stupid animal, but she always moved quickly, never to be stepped on by me and always ready to laugh at my blunders. At last, I came up with the perfect way to make her stop laughing."

"You stopped being a bad dancer?" Jack smirked.

"Eventually," North smiled. "But in this instance, I kissed her. It had been something I had wanted to do ever since we first danced at that festival, something I was too frightened to try. She returned my kiss, but as soon as she pulled away, she left the room without another word. I was certain that I had ruined the friendship we had, that she was going to ask to leave the next moment I saw her. But the next day she found me in my workshop and told me that she worried that she would grow old and no longer interest me, that my immortality would soon divide us.

"I could not imagine her ever being uninteresting. I did not want to return to the days when she was not around to swap stories with the yetis and prevent the elves from being trampled by the reindeer. I'm still not sure how I was able to, but I convinced her that it was worth attempting to be with each other regardless of her doubts. Our courtship escalated quickly from there, I do believe the yetis grew tired of us sneaking away from our work to find secluded places to hide and-"

"I don't need too many details," Jack said immediately. North might have been young when this had taken place, but he would always be the jolly old man with the white hair and long beard to him.

North laughed. "Well, let us just say I returned to work quite disheveled a few times. One day, I was visited by Calliope, who asked how long I had planned to romance the Mortal Muse without her finding out. This was when they still kept close tabs on who the Mortal Muse was, and this is when Yelena and I learned that it was her. Yelena did enjoy the company of the other Muses, she even got along with Melpomene, something that still confuses me. But she often confided in me that while she admired them and their great powers, she was not sure if she wanted that for herself. She was not sure she could be trusted with such power."

"Still sounds like she took it better than Rowan did," Jack commented.

"That poor girl, we informed her of so much at one time," North sighed. "Yelena had time to adjust to our world before finding out she potentially had a place in it. The other Muses were critical of me for a time, unsure if I was worthy of being with one of them, but Yelena was stubborn and often made a point to kiss me or ask me to tell one of my grand stories in front of them.

"One day I called her over to one of the machines. I told her that something was jammed in the gears and neither I, nor the Yetis could get it, as our hands were too big. Since her hands were smaller, I asked her to see if she could remove the jam and she made some comment about not being sure how I managed to run the pole before she came along and reached within the machine. What she pulled out was a ring that I had carefully crafted, which left her confused. She asked whose ring it was, and I told her that it was hers, if she agreed to be my wife. She said yes."

North handed Jack another drawing, this one a wedding portrait. Yelena wore a meticulously embroidered gown with a fur-lined cloak, while North donned a coat far more formal than his usual one, and actually wore a waistcoat and tie. In the picture their eyes were locked to one another's, their smiles sincere, lovesick.

"It was a grand event, our wedding. All the Muses, all the Guardians, and so many other mythical beings were in attendance. Manny even came down from the moon to marry us, and he rarely visits us down here. I do believe it was the last time he has visited. He also helped me with my wedding gift to Yelena, though he tried talking me out of it."

"What was it?" Jack asked.

"He made it so that I would age with her," North said.

"So that's why you don't look like this anymore," Jack said, pointing to North's image in the wedding portrait.

"Precisely. She did not have to worry about growing old and her hair turning grey, because I would go grey and earn age spots with her. This brought her great comfort, that my immortality would not be so obvious."

North returned to his drawers once again and Jack decided this time to just move over to where the drawers were, rather than having the man go back and forth.

"We traveled the world for our honeymoon, leaving the yetis in charge of the pole for months as we had our own adventures. We met the most magnificent people, she inspired great poets and writers as we went. We caused trouble and saved other people from their own troubles. It was some of the most fun I've had in my long life," North said, still filing through some other drawings.

"So what happened when you guys came back to the pole? I mean, did you guys just keep on doing what you'd been doing or…?" Jack asked. "Did you guys have a family or anything?"

"Ha ha! She learned she was pregnant with our first child shortly after our return to the pole. We had five children in all. I was terrified I'd be bad at being a father, I never knew my own parents. But Yelena assured me that after everything else we'd been through, a few children could not possibly defeat us, though they certainly _tried_. Yelena was a strict but loving mother. Look, look," North took out another portrait, this one of the entire family. Yelena was seated with a young girl on her lap, while North and four boys stood around them. Jack leaned over to get a better look as North pointed to each one.

"The oldest was Peter. You remind me much of him, Jack. He was a trouble-maker, a trickster, very smart and easily bored. Never on nice list for very long. He eventually settled down with very intimidating woman, they fought all the time. But I think he enjoyed that. He liked that she challenged him, and even while they taunted one another, they always had smiles on their faces. They had many children, mostly girls. They made my son go grey very early in his life.

"Next was Alexander, a great, great mind. He loved to read and he created the most fantastic of inventions. Much of the newer technology here at the pole is still based on his designs. He went on to be a professor, a very well-respected one. He met a lovely woman and they had one son together. Alexander was sick a lot, though, he died young. I do not think Yelena ever really got over that.

"In the middle was Frederick, he was a very quiet boy. He was great friends with the Yetis, I think he enjoyed their company more than that of people. I think that is why he never had a family of his own. But when he wrote about the yetis in his journals, when he studied them and spent time with them, I saw that he was content, and that is all I wanted for him.

"Then we had Vladimir, who wanted nothing more but to travel after hearing all our stories. And he did. He traveled all around the world, and found a woman just as restless as he. They had many restless children and they all continued to travel until their bones were so weak they no longer could.

"And the youngest, my precious daughter, Eva. She was just as beautiful as her mother and with _twice_ the spunk. She always took my reindeer out for rides without asking; she loved to fly. She had many suitors, many of which I scared off. However, she was drawn to one who was very timid and weak. But he played music for her, and his talent won her over. They were very happy."

"What happened to them?" Jack asked. He knew of quite a few other immortal beings that also had immortal children. If North had children and they were still around somewhere, why weren't they ever mentioned or seen?

"They are long since gone. Mortals, like their mother. I still keep tabs on my many-greats-grandchildren, though they do not know me," North said, a sad smile pulling at his lips.

"Why don't you tell them who you are? Surely they believe in you," Jack said.

"It is so much to explain, it is easier for everyone this way, and they all come and go so quickly," North said with a shrug, setting down the family portrait. "Besides, now I am so busy that I would not be able to truly be a good grandfather to them anyway. There are so many children in this world I must care for."

Jack nodded along. Having such an extensive family and having to lose them so frequently had to be emotionally exhausting. He couldn't even begin to imagine.

"Yelena and I had a wonderful life together," North said. "We had many adventures, taught each other many things. She gave me my children, whom I loved very dearly; she inspired me to create the most magnificent of toys. But she was a mortal, and while I grew to look old as she did, the belief of the children of the world kept my limbs and my mind young. She slowed down as the years progressed and our children and I took care of her. She grew slightly forgetful but overall her mind still remained sharp until her final days.

"She was very old when she fell ill. Older than most people could ever hope or dream of living to be. I always knew that this day would come, and yet I felt unprepared as I sat with her in my arms that final day. We spoke of our youth and our children, of all our fond memories. We laughed and we cried, and we shared a final kiss. She fell asleep, still in my arms, and passed peacefully."

Jack shifted uncomfortably as North frowned, his eyes wet with tears. The younger Guardian waved about his hand, creating one of his magical snowflakes before North waved it away, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Jack, I did not mean to cry," said the man, lightly dabbing at his eyes offering the boy another smile. "I do not like thinking of when she was sick. I much prefer to remember her as she was before that. So full of life and laughter. _That_ is the Yelena that visits my dreams, that inspires me to this day."

"I'm really sorry," Jack said at last, unsure of what else to say, his mind was spinning.

"Do not be," North smiled, patting the boy on the shoulder. "After she died, I held out hope that perhaps she would return as a Muse. It takes a year for the sun to decide, and before I knew it, the anniversary of her death came and went. She had not been chosen, for her death was not inspiring or tragic… it was comfortable, after a long life, and at her time.

"The irony, which was so kindly pointed out to me by Melpomene, was that had I not rescued her from the gallows that night, had she been hung for crimes she did not commit, had she died a martyr… she probably would have come back as a Muse," North said.

Jack winced at the thought. "That's… I don't even…"

"I do not like wasting my times with 'what if's," North said sternly. "Things worked out the way they were supposed to. Yelena never wanted immortality. She had told me when she grew ill that she was ready to die, that she was tired and felt that she had lived all the life that had wanted to. She thanked me for the adventures and for the life she had with me. It was what she wanted.

"That is not to say that I did not wish for her back, that I did not despise the sun for not believing that leaving me here to live indefinitely without her was tragic enough to bring her back. I spent long time mourning her, long time angry and throwing myself into my work as I hoped for a distraction. It took me very long time to heal, but I did. It took me very long time to come to terms with the fact that she was not coming back, but I did. It took me very long time to understand that this was what she wanted and that I would rather have it this way, than have her granted immortality that she would have been unhappy with… but I did."

"That's why they don't keep track of the Mortal Muse anymore," Jack said.

"Everyone felt it was best not to get attached after Yelena," North nodded. "But I will see her again, I know."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"You know as well as I, Jack. Being on this planet for so long, it is easy to lose faith in things. It is easy not to believe. But we are Guardians, and it is in our nature to believe in some things. As for me? I believe that there is an afterlife. I believe that she is there, watching over our descendants and me as I watch over them and all the other children of the world. I believe that our sons and our beautiful daughter are with her, keeping her company, bringing her joy… driving her crazy, in Peter's case, just as he did when she was here.

"One day, this will all end. One day, the Guardians will no longer be needed. It may take thousands of years, it may happen tomorrow. Is not something that keeps me up at night. Because even immortality cannot last forever, and one day, I hope to be with her again. But for now, I know that she is still with me, my Yelena. She is in my heart, she keeps the wonder shining in my eyes. She is my sun, my solnishka, my inspiration, and that can never die."

Jack fidgeted uncomfortably again. How could the words that North spoke be so uplifting and so heart wrenching at the same time? How could it be so optimistic and yet so depressing? Yelena was gone, but North had the best attitude that anyone could hope to have about such an event. But it had taken him ages to get to such a point.

"I know that Bunny wanted me to tell you this because of how you behave around Rowan," North said after a period of silence. "I know what he wants me to say. That I could have saved myself a lot of heart ache, that I could have spared myself so much pain, if I had just not gotten so hopelessly attached to her. If I had not fallen in love."

The older man sighed. "It is true," he said simply. "That woman caused me more pain and sadness than anyone has ever caused me. But she also brought me the most joy, the most hope, the most wonder, the grandest dreams, and the most precious memories. If I could do it all over again, I would in an instant. I would not change a thing."

North stood at last, placing a hand on each of Jack's shoulders and careful to look the boy in the eye. "Bunny wants only to keep you from getting hurt. We all care for you a great deal, Jack. He wants me to tell you not to let this happen to you and Rowan… but I do not think I can. If you care for her, do not let the possibility of getting hurt get in the way. Do not live your immortal life wondering what could have been, Jack, do not miss out on something magnificent for the sake of caution."

"I don't want to _marry_ her," Jack said after a moment of silence, unable to come up with any other response. It was so much to take in, and now North was practically encouraging Jack to be with Rowan when he'd been lecturing him about her a few weeks ago?

"What _do_ you want?" North asked, letting go of the boy's shoulders.

"I don't know, it's been so long since I've liked anyone that way, and to be the least eloquent that I can be, it's _weird," _said Jack hastily.

"So you _do_ have feelings for her," North said, raising a brow. Jack sighed. When he'd come to the North Pole that day, he expected, if anything, some kind of argument over Pitch. Not for heavy conversations about past loves (and potential ones in, his case).

"Jack," North said again.

"Yes, okay? _Yes,"_ Jack said at last. "But this is a whole _thing_ right now and I haven't known her very long and I'm…"

"You are what?"

"I'm not good at this," Jack mumbled, rubbing the side of his head and avoiding looking directly at the older man. "I spent three hundred years alone. I can't just proclaim my affections for her and start living out some kind of Nicholas Sparks novel, it isn't my _style."_

"To me it seems as though the two of you are going for more of J.M. Barrie," North smiled.

"Still, it's so… _complicated_. I almost forgot how difficult girls are."

"You will figure it out, Jack, I know you will," North assured him. "Now, it is nearly sunset in Massachusetts."

"Right. See you tomorrow. Thanks for the story."

"Of course. Think about what I said, Jack."

"It's gonna be hard not to," Jack sighed as they left the workshop and re-entered the loud, busy factory. He paused a moment before asking, "Do you ever think of getting married again?"

"Ha! To who, Phil?" North said. The Yeti in question looked up from his work, brow furrowed and looking a bit insulted. "Not that I don't think you'd make an excellent husband Phil. You're just… not my type."

Jack smirked slightly at the exchange.

"I am open to the idea, but as of now, I am happy with the family I have in the Guardians," North said, answering Jack's question seriously and smiling at the boy. He pulled him into a brief hug before saying, "I know you will do what's right."

"Sometimes I think you have too much confidence in me," Jack admitted.

"Often times I think you do not have enough in yourself," North replied. "Now, go, before it gets dark where Rowan is."


End file.
